3 Sunday after Pentecost

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3 Sunday after Pentecost

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1. For the Jews, the Hebrew Bible (OT) is divided in 3 parts: the Torah
(instructions/laws) the first 5 books, then Naviim the prophets, and finally Ketuvim,
or the writings, and includes all the other books of the Bible. Prophecy then is at
the core of the Hebrew Bible.
The most common misconception about prophecy is that it is in the business of predicting the
future. This is totally wrong. The prophets were not fortunetellers. They were sent by God to
correct the problems of their time and to warn the kings and the people that unless they
listened to Gods warning and mended their way, there would be future consequences.
When prophets predicted future tragedies, their goal was to convince people to change the
peoples way of life in order to avoid the risk of disasters.

2. The O.T. prophets delivered 2 key messages:

1. There is only one God and the Jews must worship only the one God (monotheism)
2. Implement social justice: the kings and the wealthy are condemned for exploiting the poor

Some prophets focused on monotheism, others on social justice, and others still on both,
but the overall messages from all prophets were monotheism and social justice

3. Writing was introduced in Israel about 8 centuries BC.

The prophets who lived before that time left no books, are called former prophets, and
the Bible contains stories about them.
After writing became widely available, around 750 Before Christ, the prophets (or their
disciples) put their prophecies in writing, and their prophecies are Bible books. The
prophets who wrote books are called literary, or classical prophets.
Literary prophets operated in Israel between 750 and 430 Before Christ, and the Bible
contains 15 books of literary prophets

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Elijah lived about 9 centuries BC and is the best known of the former prophets. The story of the
widow and of the resurrection of her son is at the beginning of Elijahs work as a prophet. There
was a drought in the land, and God told him to go to Zarephath, a village in Lebanon, near Sidon to
the house of a widow and to ask her for food. The woman had little food left, but she shared it
with the prophet, and as a reward, her food supply never ran out after that.
However, the widow had a son who got sick and died. Elijah laid on the child and prayed God 3
times to bring him back to life, and God performed a miracle and resurrected the child.
The fact that God listened to Elijahs prayer and performed a miracle established him as a prophet,
someone who stood in a close relationship with God and who would speak for God.
Elijah became the champion of monotheism: the worship of the one God, Yahweh. He is best
known for clashing with king Ahab (874-853 BC) and queen Jezebel, who had favored the worship
of Baal, the God of the Canaanites, thus committing idolatry. Elijah challenged 450 prophets of
Baal to perform a miracle, to match his own, they failed to do so and had them killed So he was
persecuted by Ahab and Jezebel.
He is remembered for being a miracle worker and for his fierce devotion to the worship of Yahweh,
the God of Israel.

4. In his Gospel of Luke Jesus is presented as a prophet. Jesus began his public life in his
hometown of Nazareth by going to the synagogue and applying to himself a passage
from Isaiah that says, the Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has
anointed me and sent me to bring the good news to the poor.
I said before that the main themes of Prophecy in the O.T. were monotheism and social justice.
Remember the core message of Jesus preaching? When someone asked Jesus, how do I achieve
eternal life? he replied: love God and love your neighbor. Love of God is the same as
monotheism, love of neighbor is the epitome of social justice.
In Luke, Jesus like the prophets was devoted to do his Fathers will and keenly sensitive to the
mistreatment of the poor and of those who were alienated from society.

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When we read the Beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says blessed are the poor. And then,
just in case we missed the point, Luke adds, woe to the rich, because they have had their fill.
In Luke, Jesuss ministry is a ministry of inclusion of all the outsiders the poor, marginalized,
publicans, prostitutes, lepers, foreigners, sinners all those who had been rejected and abandoned
by society.

4. To reinforce the message that Jesus followed the traditions of the O.T. prophets, Luke
gives us the story of the resurrection of the widows son mirroring the deeds of Elijah,
the best known of the former prophets. Note similarities and differences in the 2
stories
In both cases the mother is a widow, and the son is the only support she has. Women could not
own property in ancient Israel. If a man died without a son, his property would go back to his
family and the widow would be left with nothing. Childless widow had no resources and had to
beg or starve.
In Elijahs story, the prophet acted out of a sense of obligation towards the woman who had been
feeding him. Jesus did not know this woman, nor owe anything to her, but felt compassion for her
predicament
Elijah not have the power to raise the dead. He laid on the child and repeatedly asked God to
raise the child. Jesus was God, and simply said, young man, I say to you, rise.
Elijahs miracle established him as a prophet who spoke for God, even when he was standing up
to the king and queen. In the Gospels, miracles made Jesus believable, even when he was saying
things that were against the laws of the land
In baptism, all of us are called like Jesus, like Elijah, to believe in God, and to witness to Gods
commandment to care for our neighbors and to help make this world more just and fair for all.
The prophets stood for the worship of one God and social justice. Jesus repeated the same
message in different words, love God and love your neighbor.
In a world where God and his message is becoming increasingly irrelevant, we are called to speak
for God by what we will do: worship only God and love your neighbor as yourself .