Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

Readings:

First Reading: Amos 7:12-15 – ‘Go, shepherd, and prophesy to my people Israel’.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 84(85):9-14 – Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14 – God chose us in Christ before the world was made.

Gospel: Mark 6:7-13 – ‘Take nothing with you’.

“Go away, seer; get back to the land of Judah! We want no more prophesying in Bethel; this is the royal sanctuary, the national temple”. This quotation from the book of Amos in the first reading captures the real situation in the world today with regards to preaching the word of God. The words quoted above were not uttered by an atheist or a pagan; these were the words of a self-styled “priest and prophet” uttered against a real prophet. Last week, I called your attention to how the concept of prophecy has been grossly bastardized in its contemporary usage. Today’s first reading demonstrates that the bastardization of the concept of prophecy started long ago in the Old Testament when preaching and prophecy degenerated into sycophancy. And like in the days of Amos, preaching and prophecy has become business especially in many parts of Africa. In order, however, to understand the root of what was at stake in this reading, we need to go back to where things went wrong in the first place.

The Hebrew word bêt’ēl means “house of ēl” (ȇl is one of the names used to refer to God). Bethel as a town was from the earliest time associated with the sanctuary of God. This is probably because Abraham built an altar at Bethel (cf. Gen. 12:8; 13:3). But the great cultic legend of Bethel must have been the story of the theophany of Jacob and his erection of a standing stone (cf. Gen. 28:10ff). This was the story of the foundation of the sanctuary. When Jacob woke from his dream in which God appeared to him and renewed the promise made to his fathers, he exclaimed that, “This is nothing less than a house of God; this is the gate of heaven”. It was after he erected an altar from the stone on which he laid his head that he changed the name of that town from Luz to Bethel (House of God). Subsequently, Bethel became also a centre of prophetic activities.

However, when Jeroboam seceded and established Northern Israel, he noticed that his subjects were still going to the Temple of Jerusalem in Judah to offer sacrifices. In order to counter this movement and secure his own kingdom, he turned the “House of God” into the “house of Baal” by erecting two golden calves and saying to the people, “Behold your gods who brought you out of Egypt”. He set up one in Bethel and the other in Dan. He then set up temple of the high places and appointed priests from ordinary families who were not of the sons of Levi (cf., 1 Kings 12:25-33). From this moment on, the worship of God turned into the worship of Baal. Preaching the word of God turned into preaching the words of the kings and the royals. Prophecy thus became a lucrative business. Amaziah was one of those priests of Bethel who was under the payroll of the king; and it was understandable why he was upset by the presence of Amos. Amos was chased out of Bethel for uttering the word of Yahweh instead of that of the king and royals. By doing so, he was jeopardizing the business of Amaziah and other priests appointed by the king. The king and the royals would be infuriated if they heard the preaching of Amos. Therefore, he (Amos) must go away and get back to the land of Judah, outside the domain of Jeroboam, and practice his prophecy there.

Today, not just the kings, royals and politicians, even the people themselves have hijacked the sanctuary of the Lord. What you hear from the pulpit is no longer the word of God but the words that please either the kings and royals or the people. When one considers what one stands to gain by bending the word of God to massage the egos of his listeners, then preaching has indeed become business. And the business of preaching is a very lucrative business nowadays. No wonder preachers would do anything to safeguard their business. Amaziah epitomizes those who would do anything and everything to safeguard their business of preaching for profit. And there are so many Amaziahs today. A priest went to supply for another priest who was on vacation. One Sunday, after the mass, a group of people accosted him for the usual pleasantries. However, one of them bluntly asked him, “It appears you were recently invited for dinner by so and so person”? The priest replied, “Yes, how did you know? They all burst out laughing. And one of them replied, “Because your homily today bore the hallmark of those whom he invites for dinner. Your hand was obviously that of Esau, but your voice was that of Jacob”. They went ahead to explain to him the current pastoral issues in the parish and how the parish priest had tried to handle it by making some pastoral changes, which obviously did not please the man in question, having lost avenue for embezzlement. Since then, this man had been in the habit of inviting visiting priests for dinner and using them to indirectly voice his opposition to the changes. The priest in question learnt his lessons the hard way. You see, the greatest disservice a priest can render to a fellow priest is to be invited by that priest and succeeds in undercutting all his effort in that parish by dabbling into the internal pastoral issues of that parish using disinformation gotten over dinner invitation without finding out the real reasons behind such pastoral arrangements.

Our overzealous priest might have learnt his lessons; but there are many who don’t care about any lesson because their livelihood depends on preaching for profits. Many of them are not sent by God even when they do all imaginable abracadabra to bamboozle the people. In fact, many are on the payroll of either the kings and royals, or the gullible people who unknowingly trade their money for emotional manipulation. How then do you know the difference between those sent by God and those not sent by God? The answer is simple! From the account of Jesus’ sending of the apostles in the gospel of today, we notice that those sent by God preach repentance for the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist began his ministry by insisting on this point: Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus began his with the same insistence; so also all the OT prophets. The preachers-for-profit preach prosperity, success, double-double, and all worth rubbish.

We are all called upon to preach the word of God. The word of God is everlasting whereas the words of the royals and politicians change every minute. It is better to tell the people to repent (even if this will result in your being chased out of Bethel) than to tell them that the Holy Spirit has sanctioned their atrocities. The church is neither a royal sanctuary nor a national temple. It is the house of God where truth ought to be told.