Prophecy serves two purposes in the life of the Judeo-Christian communities. First, prophecy announces God’s judgment in the present. God challenges us from the past, and continues to speak to us in the present through contemporary prophets. 

The role of the Church-in-the-world is necessarily prophetic. As we presently experience a growing chasm between the values of the world and the teaching of the Church, we see a tension within the Church as to how to respond.

The Euro-Centric Christianity world had grown accustomed to being normative. For much of the latter 19th and early to late 20th centuries, the Christian churches enjoyed a cultural boom and a virtual partnership with the secular powers. With the advance of Communism in the 20th century, the Christian churches were even more aligned with secular authority in the struggle against the Communist world view. The fall of Communism on one-hand, and growing secularism in Europe and now the US, draws greater distinctions between the Christian and secular worldviews. 

The Church, remaining ever faithful to her tradition, yet also trying to address contemporary society, seems at times rudderless in its response to the world. Some, particularly now among the German and Belgian hierarchies, see opportunities to change some elements of Church teaching and tradition to respond to some pressing social realities, Others are more concerned about remaining fervent in the tradition, thereby resisting the tendency to adaptation. Yet another group prefers to isolate more and more from the world, forming intentional discipleship communities.

Which response is the right response? Unfortunately, each group can make an appeal to the prophetic stance. One group can claim that the zeitgeist challenges the Church to growth and change, hence the Spirit moves from outside of the Church to lead the Church.

Others, of course, maintain that the Church is the prophet challenging the world, and resisting the movement of history. The third group believes that withdrawal is the proper response to a world out of control. They find consolation in some of the early Christian communities, and the development of the religious orders of the Middle Ages.  

Prophecy should always make us uncomfortable, while at the same time it offers hope that the promise of God will be fulfilled. In a way prophecy offers consolation during trial and uncertainty in the midst of peace and prosperity. 

The Isaiah prophecies occur as the tide of history begins to turn against the northern Israelite kingdom of Samaria. The kings and people are given choices by God through Isaiah and his contemporaries, especially Micah. They can return to the Lord, and exact greater care in their choices of allies, or they can continue along their misguided path and make foolish alliances. One way leads to peace and security, the other to destruction. Of course, they chose the former and even before the destruction and exile occurs, Isaiah foreshadows a messianic age, an age of restoration and peace. The people might forsake the covenant and experience the consequences for doing so, but the covenant will not be abandoned by God nor shall their trial be permanent. 

Some 700 years later, John the Baptizer sees such an age as well, but clearly envisions a time of judgment and purging that must precede the messiah. He exacts judgment against the laxity of their times, and in particular against those who take advantage of their positions of authority and confuse that with power and as a means of personal gain. Although his preaching is harsh, he attracted followers. Ordinary people sought a sense of hope in the midst of the scandal of the present. 

As a result, we are focused more on the present than the past. Certainly history teaches us about the consequences of abandoning the way of the Lord and his covenant with us. The history of the Church, while in some ways shadows the history of the biblical Israel and Judah, is nonetheless unique and distinct. Periods of trial and persecution are always followed by periods of peace and strength. Perhaps here in the West we are experiencing contraction and struggle, while in other areas of the world the Church begins to flourish and take deep roots. Such is the tide of history and the path that the Lord sets before us, 

What does this mean for us, now? As always, we are called to be open to beckoning of the Holy Spirit, not the spirit-of-the-times. We are called to faithfulness to the tradition that has been handed on to us. While this seems easy, it is not so much so.

The Holy Spirit prods and moves the Church ever forward to the kingdom, not in stagnation but in constant reformation. The Spirit, who makes all things, new, abides with us, We pray for the wisdom to discern correctly the prophets in our midst, and to shut out the false prophets who come at us from every side. 

No matter what we do, however, the promise of God to his people will be fulfilled; the covenant endures, and the Kingdom will last forever.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.