Daily Retreat 08/04/08

Jer 28: 1-17/ Ps 118(119): 29. 43. 79. 80. 95. 102/Mt 14: 22-36   From today's readings:  "The prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled....  Lord, teach me Your statutes....  During the fourth watch of the night, He came toward them, walking on the sea....."   Good News from False Prophets   We're all aware the word "Gospel" means "Good News" and the salvation which Christ brings is certainly the best news of history! Nonetheless, it would be precariously superficial to assume that any tiding or promise of good news inevitably corresponds to the Gospel, while anything appearing as bad news is automatically antithetical to the Gospel.   We've seen ample evidence that Jeremiah's prophecy was primarily bad news, as he staunchly proclaimed that the people's persistence in their pernicious state of sin would lead to their doom!  Like the doctor who diagnoses a terminal disease, Jeremiah had to present his message to people who were understandable desperate to find a second opinion which would refute the prophet's dire determinations.  So, when Hananiah showed up with his good news of forthcoming peace and prosperity, he was hailed as the type of "feel good" prophet that the people were looking for!   But the problem, of course, was that Jeremiah's words were true because they came from God, whereas Hananiah's claims were false, the result of mere wishful thinking (which even Jeremiah was tempted to indulge in when he initially conceded that he hoped with all his heart that Hananiah's prophecy would come to pass).  However, regardless of the prophecy's intrinsic appeal, Jeremiah points out that "the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled."   There are many false prophets in our day who have enticed multitudes with promises of paradise and the dreamlike peace and prosperity that they hold will follow from Communism, sexual revolution, atheistic humanism, non-ethical medical research, Dewey's "values clarification," War in Iraq, or whatever.  As Christians, it's not that we wouldn't welcome some (but not all!) of the wonderful things promised by the prophets speaking for these causes - it's just that we realistically remember that "the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as truly sent by the LORD only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled."