True prophets

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of a priest, St. John Vianney (1786-1859). To be a Catholic priest is definitely stressful. They are targets of smear-campaigns and persecutions. Many of them are virtuously simple and easily taken advantage of. In the current situation of Hong Kong, they have to take up extra crosses which are not beneficial for evangelization: school supervisors. Don't take me wrong. I firmly believe in the strategic value of running diocesan schools in Hong Kong as bridgeheads for evangelization. However, the Catholic and Protestant churches in Hong Kong have been overstretched. They have to thin their scarce resources out among educational, medical and social services. While a religious order, such as FSC and MIC etc runs four to five schools, the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese has to run hundreds of them! I feel sorry for the parish priests who have to take charge of more than ten schools in name! Therefore, being a Hong Kong priest is truly stressful. They deserve a patron saint, St. John Vianney, to pray for them.
In baptism, Christians share the threefold roles of Jesus: king, prophet and priest. These are three special roles in the Old Testament. A king carried out the will of God, expanded His sovereignty. A prophet was the spokesman of God, passing on God's message to the people. (The Chinese translation of the term prophet is misleading. Literally, it means knowing something before anybody does.) A priest offered sacrifices to God, to worship God on behalf of the people. So, Christians inherit these roles once they were baptized. We are prophets though we are not able to foretell the future (unless, of course, God wills us to do so). Anyway, we have learnt some basic messages which we know are true and it is our duty to proclaim these messages to the people.
Why did God need a spokesman? Why doesn't God speak directly to the people?
Well, God is so holy and powerful that ordinary people fear any direct contact with Him. Therefore, they prefer to deal with a mediator instead.
Then, how do people know that the prophets are not self-proclaimed prophets? How do you test whether a prophet is a true prophet, one sent from God? This is a real issue because a lot of things are at stake here.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.'
And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?'
when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him (Deuteronomy 18:18-22).
For example, Samuel was such a prophet.
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD (1 Samuel 3:19-20).
Today, we read of the story of a prophet called Hananiah in Jeremiah 28. He was an example of a false prophet. He made the following prophecy in the temple in front of the priests and all the people.
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.
I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 28:2-4).
Hananiah even performed a symbolic act to press home his point. Previously, God told Jeremiah to make thongs and yoke-bars and put them on his own neck (Jeremiah 27:2). Then God sent Jeremiah to the kings of the nations to warn them that God had handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. They would put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:8). Therefore, Jeremiah knew that Hananiah would not be right. Yet, he did not rebuke Hananiah directly. He said calmly.
and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words which you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.
Yet hear now this word which I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.
As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet." (Jeremiah 28:6-9)
Unprovoked, Hananiah did a very dramatic but stupid thing.
Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, and broke them.
And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years." But Jeremiah the prophet went his way (Jeremiah 28:10-11).
The story ends with the death of Hananiah.
And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.
Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.'"
In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died (Jeremiah 28:15-17).
What was the motive of Hananiah? Did Hananiah make any money in making this false prophecy? I think he was politically motivated. The king of Babylon was too strong and too overwhelming. Hananiah saw it his task to boost up the morale of the people, to buy time to foster alliance with Egypt. Probably, the princes instructed him to do so. But this was a lie and gave the people false hopes. They became blind to the cruel reality which was staring them in their eyes: exile to Babylon had already begun and more exiles were on their way to Babylon. How could they not see the reality?

My dear Advocate, we all are prophets, laymen and priests alike. May we speak God's words with great care, lest we incur His wrath. Modern living has made many types of lies tolerable. Grant us the moral courage to say no to lies. St. John Vianney, pray for us and for priests. Pray that we all speak the truth. Amen.