Pagsaka sa Bungtod and the Cost of Being a Prophet 3

Alito B. Delos Santos

and the LORDsaid to me,

“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.” (Jer. 1:4-10, NRSV)

The last three phrases in verse 10 (italics added) are really threatening to someone who is

called to be a prophet. To pull down, destroy, overthrow, and build a (new) kingdom would only

invite a very strong opposition if not persecution from those in power. No wonder, Jeremiah met

a lot of hostility and hardship in his prophetic mission in Judah. Yet, Jeremiah still put his life

totally at the disposal of Yahweh. He embraced his role as a prophet fully to the extent that his

being a messenger became no longer distinguishable from his life. In other words, Jeremiah’s

own life and the mission entrusted to him by Yahweh became one and the same.

Clearly, there is something radical in Yahweh’s call to Jeremiah and Jeremiah’s response

to Yahweh. And fortunately or not (depending on how you react to it), this radicalism, in my

opinion, must also be reflected in our own discipleship to Jesus. This reminds me of a little book

by Segundo Galilea entitled Following Jesus. There he boldly challenges the Christian reader to

ponder upon the kind of discipleship we must have forged with Jesus. He writes:

Jesus was radical in his demands. For him the Christian must be salt, and if the salt loses
its ability to give savour to others it is no longer good for anything…. The choice for
Christ must be a radical one. It occupies first place, above parents, children, and life
itself. Every good, every value must be sacrificed when it becomes incompatible with the
radicalism of this choice, like the one who sells all he has to acquire a pearl of great price
or a hidden treasure. Christ wishes to establish himself as humanity’s only absolute
commitment…. Jesus demands a total discipleship, carried to the ultimate
consequences… Those who follow him must be ready not to have a place to lay down
their heads; they must be ready to do away with worldly attachments, and once on their
way they should not so much as look back.1

1
Segundo Galilea, “Following Jesus” (Quezon City: Claretian Publications, 1994), 77.