26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) – September 29, 2024

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Numbers 11:25-29; Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-14; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43 45, 47-38

Unrealized Potential

One thing I’ve been pondering this past week is the idea of unrealized potential. As in, someone who has the potential for greatness, the potential to do amazing things—someone who could really use their God-given gifts and talents to the full—but they don’t. And it’s not always that they are a bum or something, but maybe it’s a whole bunch of different circumstances and they never realize their potential. Kind of like we were talking last week about our spiritual formation, and how you have become the person you are today because of a whole bunch of different factors—some were your decision, others weren’t, but you are where you are. And I think for many of us—I think many of us could say that we have at least a little unrealized potential. For athletes, we can easily see that: a kid, or an NFL prospect has a chance to really be great, but it just never really happens. And again, maybe for you—you have felt like you could have done more in life. But that’s just it: there is this unrealized potential.

There was once this guy who lived a while back—very, very famous. His name was John. John, he grew up in a pretty wealthy family; his father owned a very lucrative business and his mother came from a very wealthy family. And so growing up, as you would expect, he had the best of everything: best clothes, best food, housing, the best education and training. He was also a good looking kid, very popular among his peers and friends; a natural leader. And because of this, his parents (and especially his father) always had the hope and the expectation that he would take over the family business one day—take it to even greater heights. John ended up joining the military for a while, and that we seen as a very honorable and noble thing—and so his family continued to think, “Yeah, this kid has so much potential. Maybe even be a politicians, an incredibly influential person one day.”

But here’s the thing: John—well, John never had very much of an interest in the family business…or any business. He was also kind of a carefree guy, a free spirit. There were times when he was running the business for his dad that he made really poor financial decisions. And he ended up losing a bunch of money. And through a long series of events like that, he and his father became estranged, and they ended up having a real falling out. John ended up dramatically renouncing his inheritance. And He actually ended up homeless, living in poverty.

And so here it is: here’s this guy, so much potential in life—and John ends up homeless, in poverty, unable to cut it in the world. It’s a story of unrealized potential.

“Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”

One thing that really got me thinking about this—this unrealized potential—was this line in our first reading today. [If you’re journeying with us through the Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible series we’re doing, you’re going to get to this part soon. This scene happens in the book of Numbers which is the story the Israelites’ time wandering in the desert for forty years, after they had been freed from slavery in Egypt.] And in this particular scene, God is raising up a group of people to lead the people alongside Moses. God sends his Spirit on them in order to empower them, empower them to lead the people with Moses. And some people get upset; they’re jealous that others besides them have also been given the Sprit of God. And Moses—very famously—Moses tells them not to complain and says, “Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!” In other words, “Don’t be jealous, no. Wouldn’t it be awesome if everyone had this? Think of all the good that could come about.” Moses is saying, “Yeah, if everyone had God’s Spirit—think how different everything could be.”

This passage is very important (for one reason) because here, in the Old Testament, thousands of years before Jesus, we’re already told: if the Spirit of God were poured out on everyone, everything in the world could be so much different. And of course, you and I and every baptized person has received this Holy Spirit, everyone that is confirmed receives the Holy Spirit. This is a great foreshadowing of that.

But the Spirit is given for a specific purpose. Moses say that the Spirit is given for a very specific purpose—what did he say right before that? “Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” A prophet. This is what Moses wants: a wold full of prophets. [Again, at baptism—y’all need to go to a baptism—at baptism we are reminded that we now share in Jesus’ mission as priest, as king, and as prophet.] So this wish, this desire of Moses—“Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!”—we’re the living fulfillment of that!

This is the potential that Moses foresees, that he envisions: a world full of prophets. And this is why I was thinking about this idea of unrealized potential: you and I, every baptized person, has an incredible potential—absolutely incredible potential to be a prophet—and yet few of us ever realize it, few of us ever actually embrace and take up and live our role as a prophet.

What Is a Prophet?

So what is a prophet? How am I supposed to embrace that role if I don’t even know what that is? Well, once again, this is why it’s important to know the Old Testament. If you had to guess, what do you think a prophet is? Most people will say it’s a person that predicts the future. Eh, no.

A prophet, a biblical prophet—prophets are people that see clearly; they feel fiercely, they feel with the very feeling of God; nothing is trivial in their eyes; everything is of the utmost important—why? Because prophets see things with the divine vision, they see things as God sees things—and nothing is unimportant to God. And so their job—a prophet’s job is to help open other people’s eyes to this divine way of seeing things (a view different from what most people are convinced is right). And on top of that, prophets are often called to live out this vision in radical and noticeable ways.

So then think: why is Moses so insistent that “all the people of the Lord were prophets”? Why does he want everyone to be a prophet? Because then we would all see clearly, we would feel as God feels, operate as God operates, and help others to see and live this way as well. This is our potential, and Moses knows it: we have the potential to share in God’s life! Not just follow his rules, but see as God sees, feel as God feels, operate as God operates.

The thing is—it’s hard. Just think how hard it is to operate this way. I mean, just take that one simple piece: “nothing is trivial to God.” Have we really internalized that principle? I mean, I think of walking around downtown Wichita and passing a homeless guy asking for money. Now, my feeling could easily be, “Eh, he’s just going to use it to buy stuff he doesn’t need.” Which is true. But think: Do I see him as God teaches me to see him? When I see him, do I see him as a brother? Do I feel the same feelings as if I saw my real brother, homeless and on the street? Do you see what I mean? It’s easy to trivialize reality, to view it through a secular lens, instead of viewing it through a biblical lens, a Christian lens, the lens given to me as a prophet.

And insert anything here: Sunday as the Lord’s Day, marriage, money, our time, kids, sports, politics—anything! Do we see through a divine lens? Or again, like I mentioned last week, have we been spiritually formed more so by the world, how the world has taught us to see things? Do we see with the divine vision, feel with the feeling of God, not trivialize anything? Or not?

St. Francis of Assisi

We have to be careful which lenses we use, who is teaching us to see. Why? Well, go back to John’s story. In John’s case, he had a life where it appeared that he did not realize his potential: he ended up poor, homeless, failed businessman and employee. He was a failure, totally unrealized potential. Right? Well, according to the lenses the world gives to us, yes. But John—John was not a failure in God’s eyes, in the divine vision. John was actually a prophet, a true prophet. And he changed the world.

Like I said, John is very famous. His full name was actually Giovani di Pietro di Bernardone—he grew up in a town in Italy called Assisi—and he was better known by the nickname his Father gave to him, “Francesco”—or as we call him Francis. Francis of Assisi. And yeah, Francis disappointed his father, big time; in his father’s eyes, he completely failed to realize his potential. But in God’s eyes, in the divine vision—not the worldly vision, but the divine vision, Francis reached a potential that few people ever do. Francis stunk at business, but it’s because he was constantly giving money to serve the poor. Francis did join the military, but while in the military he had a powerful experience listening to the Lord, and he stopped hanging out with certain people, and started hanging out with the poor, beggars, people on the street. And this is what led to the falling out between Francis and his father—he did in fact become homeless, started living in a cave and begging for his food, but because he was responding in a radical way to the invitation Jesus makes in the Gospels.

In other words, Francis had a vision shaped by the biblical worldview. He denied himself and gave up everything in order to follow Christ—sound familiar? He embraced incredible suffering, took up his cross. He was ridiculed and mocked by many, even his friends. But he lived a radical dedication to God. And why? Because the Spirit of God was on him, and he realized his potential as a prophet. He fulfilled this potential. And because of it? He changed the world.

And Us?

The question is: are we going to reach our potential—specifically, are we going to reach our potential as prophets? Because if we’re honest, most of us listen to that story of St. Francis of Assisi and think, “Yeah, I’m never going to be like that.” But that’s where I would challenge you. I think one of the most important things for us is to embrace our role as a prophet: to see clearly, with the divine vision, to see as God sees; to feel fiercely, to feel with the very feeling of God; to stop allowing everything to be trivial, but instead seeing everything as of the utmost importance; to help others see this way; and to live this out in radical and noticeable ways.

I’ve shared a lot of stories over the years because I hope these help us to see the power of living this way, living prophetically—and also of not living this way. I talk about my crazy family because even though it’s crazy, my parents were prophetic in the way they raised us. I talk about the guy on the plane to Chicago, the man from China, “Jesus sucks” girl, all my favorites—why?—because they show us what happens when we don’t live this way: we fall into mediocrity, and a depression, a sadness; life is boring, and we get cynical and jaded. We need prophets. Our day and age needs prophets. In this new Apostolic Age, we need prophets. 

And this is the last thing. Back in the 300’s, a saint by the name of Anthony—Anthony left everything to follow the Lord. One day at Mass he heard the passage that says, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” And he took it literally! It changed his life. But Anthony had a profound insight that I think is relevant for us today. Anthony said, “A time is coming when men will go crazy, and when they see someone who is not crazy, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are crazy; you are not like us.” That’s prophetic. Why? Because we live in crazy times, times where people have gone crazy. And we have a choice: are we going to embrace our prophetic role and be called crazy, or go crazy like everyone else? Are we going to be spiritually formed by Jesus Christ and the gospel and the Scriptures, or are we going to be spiritually formed by the world? People are going to call your crazy—my parents were called crazy! But we are called to be prophets, and prophets were always a little crazy.

Today, as we conclude this series on the Sacred Scriptures, on the Bible, my biggest encouragement is that you allow the biblical vision, the Scripture readings we hear each and every Sunday—allow all of this to change you, to continue to shape how you see. Pray with the Scriptures, take them to heart. Because when we do this, everything changes. Everything. And each and every one of us will begin to reach the potential, the prophetic potential, we have.