Problems with Prophecies

Gospel: Matthew 17: 10-13

People in Jesus' day obsessed with the Messianic prophecies perseverated over this second coming of Elijah.  Apparently it already happened and no one knew it! So says Jesus.  The disciples understand him to mean that Elijah came in the person of John the Baptist, though Jesus did not say that.  Prophecy is often what we want it to be in order to suit our own ends.  We often look mistakenly at prophecy as something fatalistic and pre-determined.  Prophecy can be unfulfilled, unrealized, and very often misinterpreted.  

Consider:  all the Messianic prophecies tell us that when this figure comes that great peace will come upon the land.  Enemies will be reconciled, spears will be turned into pruning forks, and all shall be well.  In the Christian understanding the Messiah has come, so where's the peace? The professional apologists are quick to retort: oh, that's meant for the final coming of Jesus.  Or more likely, we were supposed to emulate the peace of the Messiah in our lives, and we failed to do so.  Thus we reinterpret the prophecy to suit us, allowing us to continue with business as usual on earth.  

Another Advent is here and another Christmas cometh.  We will hear the readings of the coming peace of the Messianic age.  We may even hear a sermon or two about it and the peace we should have within us.  And we will go on with the wars and divisions of the world as fast as a New Year's resolution is broken.  If we as individuals, communities, and societies are not willing to imitate the peace of the Messiah, then we are not worthy of it, and the promise is an empty one not because of the One who promised it but because of we who fail to honor it.