Prophet. There’s a heaviness to this word. It’s weighted down with meaning. We think of prophets and we think of Charlton Heston with wild hair and a booming voice, reaching out his hand to work wonders of nature by the grace of God. We think of prophets and we think of ancient Biblical history someone far away, someone so removed from our everyday life. A prophet is someone who knows something we don’t.
When I let you in on this secret, it might scare you at first: in a way, God is calling you to be a prophet. He is calling me. He is calling anyone who hears the truth of the Gospel. However, there is no need for the megaphone and the wild locusts. This prophet gig might not be what you’re thinking.
What does a prophet do? He hears and testifies to the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it’s unpopular, even when it results in, as Paul says, “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints.” A prophet doesn’t have to be smart or rich or ordained; heck, he doesn’t even have to be particularly willing.
All a prophet has to do is listen to the truth. The truth we receive from Christ, through the Gospel and the sacraments, is a mighty gift. But it is a gift that we are not meant to simply keep for ourselves. In possessing it, we are compelled to also pass it on, to share it, to let the Spirit set us on our feet
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