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The Prophetic Role of the Laity
We are called to carry on the prophetic mission of Jesus in word and deed, even when it places us at odds with the culture.
By Mark Etling, PhD
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In our day, we have seen and heard about men and women who embody the prophetic spirit of the Judeo-Christian faith: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, Jean Donovan, Archbishop Oscar Romero.
Because of their extraordinary lives, it’s easy to distance ourselves from them, to consider them somehow superhuman, and therefore to excuse ourselves from having to imitate them in any serious way.
But in reality, each of us is called, within the circumstances of our everyday lives, to be a prophet. In this article, I will discuss what it means to be a prophet in the JudeoChristian tradition, the source of our call to prophetic witness, and the specific ways we can carry out Jesus’ prophetic mission in every aspect of our lives.
WHAT IS A PROPHET?
Many of us were taught that prophets were seers who foretold God’s actions centuries before they took place. In Isaiah 7:14, the prophet declares to King Ahaz, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign; the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.” This, we were told, was a prediction of the coming of Jesus more than 700 years later.
But over the past several decades, biblical scholars have given us a different and more accurate portrait of the Old Testament prophets—one that views them as persons of deep insight rather than foresight.
THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS
Although the times, places, and circumstances of their ministries differ greatly, the careers of the Old Testament prophets follow a similar pattern: 1. The prophet is called by God. Isaiah relates that he received his call in a vision. Typical of the prophets, he declares his unworthiness. But this does not deter God. He asks, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
Isaiah 4:18–19
The sun rises over Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, establishing a covenant with his people. Immediately Isaiah responds, “Here I am . . . send me!” (Is 6:8). 2. e prophet understands the terms and sacredness of the Mount Sinai covenant between God and God’s people. At the same time, the prophet sees that God’s people are not keeping their covenant promises. 3. e prophet fearlessly confronts the chosen people and their leaders with the reality of their sinfulness and corruption. He predicts dire consequences for their failure to repent and reform their lives. 4. e prophet is ignored, rejected, or persecuted.
JESUS THE PROPHET
Catholics may not be accustomed to thinking of Jesus as a prophet. Yet, in many ways, his message and ministry follow the same pattern as the prophets of the Old Testament.
A dramatic scene in the Gospel of Luke illustrates Jesus’ awareness of his prophetic call. At a Sabbath service in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from Isaiah: “ e spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (4:18–19).
Jesus then declared, “Today this scripture passage is ful lled in your hearing” (4:21).
By quoting from Isaiah, Jesus acknowledged his clear understanding of the Mount Sinai covenant. At the same time, Jesus proclaimed the establishment of a new covenant between God and his people: the reign of God.
Jesus’ reign-of-God movement rede ned God’s relationship with his people. Although in continuity with the Mount Sinai covenant, it was radically di erent in two important ways. First, Jesus declared that God would overcome Roman tyranny not by the use of force, but through nonviolent resistance. Second, God would not swoop down out of heaven to x the world. Jesus said it was up to God’s people to usher in the reign of God through the practice of radical love—agape.
Jesus was keenly aware of the sins and shortcomings of the people of his own times. He was particularly critical of the religious
leaders of Israel: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are filled with dead men’s bones and every kind of filth” (Mt 23:27).
As we know, Jesus suffered a fate even worse than the rejection and persecution heaped upon the Old Testament prophets. In the Gospel of John, the high priest Caiaphas declares: “It is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (Jn 11:50).
LIVING OUT OUR PROPHETIC CALL
Jesus has completed his prophetic mission on earth. Now he entrusts us, his followers, to carry on his prophetic work in the world.
Just like Jesus and the Old Testament prophets, our prophetic call is from God. It came to us in our Baptism. When a newly baptized person is anointed with the oil of chrism, these words are spoken: “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”
Believers continue Christ’s prophetic mission in two ways: First, we are heralds of a new age, a radically different way of being in the world—the reign of God. Second, we bear witness to the reign of God by living as though it were already here in all its fullness.
Our call to share in the prophetic mission of Christ involves every aspect of our lives, including:
PROPERTY THE ECONOMY
We Americans are conditioned to think in purely capitalistic terms—especially when it comes to the acceptability of maximizing profit. But in 1986, the US bishops reminded us that Christians need to use a different standard of measurement in economic decision-making: “Every economic decision and institution must be judged in light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person. . . . We judge any economic system by what it does for and to people and by how it permits all to participate in it. The economy should serve people, not the other way around” (“Economic Justice for All,” 13). In the economic sphere, our prophetic call as Christians is unambiguous: people over profits. Our deliberation on economic issues should consider first and foremost their impact on people, especially the poor. This is a clearly prophetic stance in our ultracapitalist, consumerist culture.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI cited St. Ambrose to illustrate the Catholic teaching on property ownership: “You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich” (“Populorum Progressio,” 23).
The American idea of property ownership is that we can own as much as we can lawfully obtain and use our property in any way we want. The Catholic notion of ownership holds us to a different—prophetic—standard. The right of all persons to have what they need in order to thrive takes precedence over the right of ownership. Each of us is called to assess honestly how much we need to sustain our lives and then to share the remainder with our brothers and sisters in need.
The Church’s teaching on property compels us to ask ourselves difficult questions. How much money and how many material possessions are enough? How much of my selfworth is tied to what I have? How generous am I with my time, talents, and treasure? Do I see my possessions as gifts to be shared with people in need?
THE ENVIRONMENT
We Americans have become so consumption- and convenience-driven that it’s difficult for us to simplify our lives. Yet that is our prophetic call in light of the global climate crisis. Pope Francis urges us to heal our broken relationship with the natural world by nurturing it and restoring it to health. We are further called to a closer and more caring relationship with our brothers and sisters most directly affected by climate change—the poor and those who have become “climate refugees” because their homelands are unlivable.
As Pope Francis writes: “Our goal is . . . to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suff ering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it” (“Laudato Si’,” 19).
Do we ever think about shopping for groceries as a prophetic act? It can be, if we take the time to seek out locally grown foods, which require less energy to grow and ship, and remember to bring our reusable bags to the store.
POLITICAL LIFE
Politics in America is always messy.
Th at said, the Church affi rms that we have both a right and a duty as citizens to participate in the political process. We don’t have the luxury of standing on the sidelines in the face of our current political situation, no matter how frustrating or divisive it is.
Nor is it easy to decide which candidates best embody Christian values. How can a Catholic vote in good conscience for a pro-choice candidate? At the same time, climate change is a clear and present danger to our lives and to future generations. And how can we tolerate human rights abuses against families on our southern border?
Bishop Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego has off ered timely moral guidance regarding our prioritization of political and moral issues. In an address in February 2020 at the University of San Diego, he said: “Seen against this background of abortion, climate change, and the culture of exclusion, it is clear that the faith-fi lled voter who seeks to be guided by Catholic social teaching is confronted by compelling moral claims that cut across the partisan and cultural divides of our nation. Th e pathway from these cross-cutting moral claims to decisions on particular candidates is not a direct and singular one in Catholic teaching, rooted in one issue. For this reason, the drive to label a single issue preeminent distorts the call to authentic discipleship in voting rather than advancing it.”
We can be a prophetic voice in American political life by taking an active role in the process, making our voting decisions based on sound moral principles rather than party affi liation, and promoting the common good through our participation in the political process.
THE FAMILY
In his 1981 apostolic exhortation, “Familiaris Consortio,” Pope John Paul II described the family as “the fi rst and vital cell of society” (42). Th e family is the “hothouse” in which spouses, parents, and children learn to be Christians—the Church in miniature.
Th ere are many ways the family can give prophetic witness. Married love that is unconditional, faithful, and exclusive mirrors the love of God for each of us. By living simply, families witness to their belief that trust in God is more important than possessions, success, or status. When parents raise their children in an environment of love, structure, and stability, they are preparing them to be good citizens and loving, faith-fi lled members of the body of Christ.
Th e prophetic family models its decisions and behaviors regarding property, the economy, the environment, and political life on the principles of Catholic social teaching. In so doing, it bears witness to a very diff erent style of life—one that makes real the reign of God on earth.
Because we are called by our Baptism to be prophets, Catholics should look and act diff erently in the world. Like the prophets of the Old Testament and Jesus, we are commissioned to deliver an oft en unpopular, countercultural message—in word and deed—to a world that will likely respond with indiff erence or hostility. And we must be willing to endure the consequences for our acceptance of the prophetic call.
But our baptismal faith impels us. We are prophets because we have the conviction, born of hope, that the world can be better—and the duty to do our part to help transform it.
Mark Etling, PhD, is coordinator of adult faith formation at St. Nicholas Parish in O’Fallon, Illinois, and an adjunct professor of theology at the School for Professional Studies at St. Louis University. Learn more about him at MarkEtling.org.
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