(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
If the visions of the book of Revelation confuse you, you are in good company. John had been actively involved in the revelation made by God through Jesus Christ to him. What next was there for John? He was told, in today’s reading, to take the scroll and eat it. This was a call to be renewed in his vocation to be prophetic. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel had experienced calls to renew their commitment to be prophets.
The task of the prophet is not to foretell the future. That is too restrictive a task. Foretelling the future is easy, but the task of the prophet is to speak in the name of God. That is the more difficult task.
Ideally we hear the word of God in the context of the liturgy. This does not mean that we do not have to ponder this word and study this word outside of liturgy. It does mean that our presence as Church is our primary presence in the world. It is as Church that we each take and swallow the scroll of God’s word. Then it is as Church that we proclaim that Word in a prophetic way. We are John. We are Isaiah. We are Jeremiah. We are Ezekiel.
I find it hard to write blogs on the readings. You faithfully read the passage assigned for each day, but it is not the same as hearing the scriptures proclaimed in the liturgy. You read the blogs, but they are out of the context provided by the liturgy. Blogs are a distant secondary way of experiencing the word of God. It might be like having John experience the revelation by watching the heavenly liturgy via DVD or download.
Despite the hardship and difficulty, we are told to take and eat the scroll of the word of God and then to go out and prophesy to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings. We are not to predict the future but to proclaim the word of God.
God called us to baptism for this purpose, so that we could consume the Word of God and proclaim it to others. God did not call us to baptism so that we could brag about being baptized, but that we could accomplish the work God has given each of us. We do this by paying attention to the Word and proclaiming it.
For John, this passage served as a renewed call to speak in God’s name. For us it can have the same purpose, to renew our response to God’s call. Therefore, take and swallow and prophesy again, speaking in the name of God.