7/14/2024 -15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

A Countercultural Prophet

God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things. This truth is powerfully illustrated in the stories of the prophet Amos and Jesus' disciples. Amos was a humble shepherd and fig farmer from Tekoa, a small village in Judah. He had no formal religious training or prophetic lineage. Yet God called him to speak truth to power in the northern kingdom of Israel. When confronted by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, Amos boldly declared: "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to My people Israel'" (Amos 7:14-15).

The passage of the Scripture from Amos places before us two contrasting conceptions of religion—one represented by Amaziah, priest of Bethel, and the other represented by the prophet Amos. Amaziah thought of religion in “civil” terms. It existed to promote loyalty to the royal house and political administration. Bethel was the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom, a sort of national cathedral with all the powers vested in the king. Amaziah took his role as a court chaplain and used religious sentiments of the people to further the interests of the king. Amos, on the other hand, was an outsider called by God to denounce the government for its injustice and inhumane practices and act as a conscience of the people to draw them to God’s ways.

 Jesus chose ordinary, working-class men as His disciples. Peter and Andrew were fishermen. Matthew was a tax collector and Simon the Zealot was a member of the anti-establishment sect. None of them had theological education or religious authority. Yet Acts 4:13 tells us that when the religious leaders saw the courage of Peter and John, "they were astonished, and they took note that these men had been with Jesus". God, delights in using the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27). This pattern continues even today. God is still calling ordinary people - students, workers, parents, retirees - to be prophetic voices and disciples. He empowers us through the Holy Spirit to drive out injustice, speak truth, and share His love. Being used by God, doesn't require special qualifications. It simply requires willingness and obedience. Like Amos, we may feel inadequate. Like the disciples, we may doubt our abilities. But God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called.

So don't disqualify yourself based on your ordinariness. Instead, offer yourself fully to God. Be willing to step out in faith. Trust that the One who calls you will also equip you. For it is often through the most ordinary of people that God does his most extraordinary work. Daring to be different, stepping off from your comfort zone and letting go of your cluttered lifestyle, that has distracted you from your baptismal call to be a witness, are ways to bring purpose to your Christian life. Like Amos and the first disciples we must dare to challenge all the policies of public administration that go against our faith in God, our creator, from whom we get our inalienable rights.

The laity share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own role to play in the mission of the entire People of God in the Church and in the world. They exercise a genuine apostolate by their activity on behalf of bringing the gospel and holiness to men, and on behalf of penetrating and perfecting the temporal sphere of things through the spirit of the Gospel.

Vatican II, Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, 1965: paragraph 2.

Fr Tom Kunnel.C.O