Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 14th July 2024
There are many ‘Prophets’ that we hear about when read parts of the Old Testament. We are familiar with prophets such Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Miriam, the sister of Moses is also named as a prophet of the Lord, as is Deborah. In the gospel of Luke, the elderly woman Anna is named as a prophet. These men and woman never volunteered or asked to be prophets; they were all called and chosen personally by God. Prophets were not fortune tellers; they didn’t predict the future. In fact, they did the very opposite; they reminded people of their past. They reminded people that God had made a sacred contract, a covenant with them. They would be his people and he would be their God. They were to treat each other with fairness, dignity, justice and respect. However, over time, they began to lead their daily lives in very opposite ways. They were not just, decent or honest with each other and they treated the poor with contempt.
The prophets came and reminded them of the God’s covenant with them and challenged the way they were living. They were neither liked or accepted because they asked people to change their ways and how they were treating the poor.