by Father Robert M. Powers

THE PROPHETIC Imagination is one of my favorite  biblical theology texts. Walter Brueggemann makes a very important point in this simply written, but well-documented, 100-page book. He proposes that you can see two types of prophecy displayed in all of the prophets of the Old Testament and in the prophecies of Jesus and John the Baptist in the New Testament.

One type of prophecy is the prophecy of consolation. Isaiah and Jeremiah, for example, spoke words of hope to the people of Judah who were in captivity in Babylon, reminding them that their painful exile would end one day. Ezekiel told the people his vision of dry bones coming back to life. Jesus offered solace for sinners and others on the margins of society, offering them new life in the Kingdom of God that He was inaugurating. The people embraced the comforting words of the prophets and of Jesus.

In today’s world, as in biblical days, we yearn to hear prophecies of consolation. We love those who proclaim words that affirm and strengthen us.   They remind us that God loves us and wants us to feel that love. We experience these prophetic words as genuine and life giving.

The second type of prophecy is the prophecy of challenge. These are often words that people do not welcome and that they often reject. Isaiah and Jeremiah could not convince the leaders and people of Judah that Jerusalem would fall if they did not reform their ways. Jesus was at the height of popularity with His preaching and healing, but when He spoke of the need to eat His body and drink His blood in order to gain eternal life, St. John reports that droves of people, including a number of His disciples, ceased to follow Him.

Today, perhaps more than ever, people do not want to hear words that challenge them to look at and reform their lives. Contemporary culture frowns upon prophets who utter words of challenge; they are often dismissed as judgmental or hypocritical.

As always on this Fourth Sunday of Easter, we hear a selection of John 10, in which Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd. The image of the Good Shepherd was prominent in the early Church and was often drawn in the Roman catacombs. It was a very popular illustration of Bibles and prayer books of both Catholics and Protestants in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The tender image of Jesus holding a lamb in His arms with the docile flock of sheep gathered around His feet enables us to feel His prophecy of consolation. The Good Shepherd is Himself the Lamb, St. John tells in today’s second reading from Revelation, who “will shepherd (the saints) and lead them to springs of life-giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The voice of the Good Shepherd, present in the shepherds Christ has ordained for the care of His flock, should be pastoral always in both its tone and content. The voices of all the ordained – the pope, bishops, priests and deacons – should be voices filled with compassion and concern for the vulnerable sheep in their care. People need to hear consoling and affirming words from their shepherds.

They want a sense of confidence that the shepherds God has appointed over them understand and love them with some measure of His comprehension and love.

But that voice must be also courageous in its expression to the flock of the moral dangers that lurk in the marketplace and on the horizon. Wolves in sheep’s clothing – attractive, charming and seemingly virtuous – are present in every age, and their deceit is not always easy to identify. Ordained shepherds must speak words of warning like the ancient prophets – words that many of the flock will reject for a time but that ultimately will bear fruit.

All baptized persons share in the Good Shepherd’s calling to speak the Word of God by virtue of the prophetic dimension of their baptism. As members of the Body of Christ, all baptized and confirmed persons have the capacity to speak the Word in ordinary situations that the Holy Spirit wants their neighbors to hear. They must have kind voices, which affirm and console their fellow sheep in their families and in their communities. And their voices, at times, must challenge their loved ones to turn away from what would harm them and others.[hr]

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 13: 14, 43-52

Psalm 100: 1-2, 3, 5

Revelation 7: 9, 14b-17

John 10: 27-30[hr]

Father Robert M. Powers is the administrator of St. Paul and St. Agnes parish, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Gowanus and the Columbia Street Waterfront District.