Sunday Next before Advent, Sunday, November 24th, 2013
Fr. Todd Bragg
St. Margaret Anglican Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
"When they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet should come into the world." (St. John 6:5ff)
In today's Gospel passage from the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Certainly, as we have stated in the past, Our Divine Saviour is very observant and also compassionate. Thus, we have a God that is concerned about His sons and daughters. In other words, He noticed that they were tired and hungered and He had compassion enough to take note and make a point to feed them. In doing so, and rightfully so, the multitude was certainly impressed with such a miracle . . . in other words, how He fed so many with so little. And as a result of witnessing this miracle, they referred to Him as a prophet.
"Prophet," from the Hebrew "Nabi," meaning "to bubble forth," as from a fountain. Also, another word was used in regard to the word "Prophet," this is the word "Ro'eh," meaning a "Seer." The Prophet Samuel is described some seven times as a "Seer" or "Ro'eh." Thus, the prophet proclaims the message given to him while the seer beheld the vision of God.
"And He said, Hear now My words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream." (Numbers 12:6)
"I will raise up a Prophet from among their brothers, like to you, and will put My words in their mouths; and he shall speak to them all that I command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18)
We are all called to be prophets, in that we are called to relate what God has chosen to reveal to each one of us. In order to do this, we have to first be focused on God. In other words, we have to pay attention to God first in order to know what He is saying to us. How many of us hear something on the radio or TV or even in general conversation, but then we don't know what was said because we weren't paying attention. We were hearing, but we weren't paying attention. We could say that hearing is not necessarily the same thing as listening. We need to listen to what God is saying, we need to pay attention to what God is saying in order to share what He is wanting us to know.
St. Augustine said: "Christ is a Prophet and the Lord of Prophets; as He is an Angel, and the Lord of Angels. In that He came to announce something, He was an Angel; in that He foretold the future, He was a Prophet; in that He was the Word made flesh, He was Lord both of Angels and Prophets; for none can be a Prophet without the Word of God."
We need to pay attention to what God is speaking to us and what He would have us know in order to impart this knowledge to others. Let us always make a point of first paying attention to Our Blessed Saviour, to listen to Him and what He is saying to us so that we can share this knowledge with others, both in word and in deed.
In today's Gospel passage from the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, we hear the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Certainly, as we have stated in the past, Our Divine Saviour is very observant and also compassionate. Thus, we have a God that is concerned about His sons and daughters. In other words, He noticed that they were tired and hungered and He had compassion enough to take note and make a point to feed them. In doing so, and rightfully so, the multitude was certainly impressed with such a miracle . . . in other words, how He fed so many with so little. And as a result of witnessing this miracle, they referred to Him as a prophet.
"Prophet," from the Hebrew "Nabi," meaning "to bubble forth," as from a fountain. Also, another word was used in regard to the word "Prophet," this is the word "Ro'eh," meaning a "Seer." The Prophet Samuel is described some seven times as a "Seer" or "Ro'eh." Thus, the prophet proclaims the message given to him while the seer beheld the vision of God.
"And He said, Hear now My words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream." (Numbers 12:6)
"I will raise up a Prophet from among their brothers, like to you, and will put My words in their mouths; and he shall speak to them all that I command him." (Deuteronomy 18:18)
We are all called to be prophets, in that we are called to relate what God has chosen to reveal to each one of us. In order to do this, we have to first be focused on God. In other words, we have to pay attention to God first in order to know what He is saying to us. How many of us hear something on the radio or TV or even in general conversation, but then we don't know what was said because we weren't paying attention. We were hearing, but we weren't paying attention. We could say that hearing is not necessarily the same thing as listening. We need to listen to what God is saying, we need to pay attention to what God is saying in order to share what He is wanting us to know.
St. Augustine said: "Christ is a Prophet and the Lord of Prophets; as He is an Angel, and the Lord of Angels. In that He came to announce something, He was an Angel; in that He foretold the future, He was a Prophet; in that He was the Word made flesh, He was Lord both of Angels and Prophets; for none can be a Prophet without the Word of God."
We need to pay attention to what God is speaking to us and what He would have us know in order to impart this knowledge to others. Let us always make a point of first paying attention to Our Blessed Saviour, to listen to Him and what He is saying to us so that we can share this knowledge with others, both in word and in deed.
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