People may be disguised to look and speak very well, but if their words and deeds lead people away from Jesus, they are false prophets.  So, by their fruits you shall know them.  

Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

2 Kings 22:8-13; 23:1-3

Psalm 119:33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40

M atthew 7:15-20 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? (17) So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. (18) A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Meditation by Tom Bannantine, S.J. 

F rom time to time someone starts to predict that the end of the world is coming very soon. They give a specific date, usually in a matter of days, and cause much confusion in the ensuing days. A lot of people believes the prediction and gets very upset. Some people even panic. But when the predicted date arrives the world keeps right on going. The person making the prediction is discredited and the whole affair disappears from the news. People have been making predictions like this throughout human history. They were present in the time that Jesus lived here on earth and they are the subject of today's gospel reading. Jesus calls them false prophets.

We know that the world will end. God has told us that. What we don't know is the exact time when the world will end. But Jesus has assured us that God will send us signs when the end of the world approaches. And God will let us know that the signs come from him.  He will not use false prophets as his messengers. We might think that the best thing we can do is to ignore false prophets. Most of us do that. We don't believe the predictions of false prophets and we refuse to get excited about them. 

In this gospel reading Jesus gives his disciples different advice.  He doesn't advise ignoring false prophets. He doesn't advise ridicule or making fun of them. He doesn't advise arguing or entering a dialogue with them. No, the advice of Jesus to his disciples is to beware of false prophets. He wants his disciples to be on guard against them.  Jesus knows that the false prophets are very clever. They disguise themselves and appear to be very sincere in order to influence their hearers. Many people in Israel were susceptible to such tactics and taken in by them. But Jesus has chosen his disciples to be his close followers and the future leaders of his church. He is carefully instructing them to prepare them to take on these responsibilities. He wants them to concentrate on his teaching and avoid being deceived by the false prophets.

Jesus knows that if the disciples can recognize the false prophets they will be better able to beware of them. And so he tells the disciples how to recognize the false prophets in spite of their clever disguises. In order to help the disciples to recognize them, Jesus uses the analogy of a tree and its fruit. As on many other occasions, Jesus here makes an important point by speaking of something that is very familiar to those to whom he is speaking. He speaks several times in the gospels about trees and their fruit. Here he makes the point that a tree may look healthy, but if the fruit of the tree is bad, the tree is really rotten in spite of its looks. In the same way, people may be disguised to look and speak very well, but if their words and deeds lead people away from Jesus, they are false prophets. So, by their fruits you shall know them. 

As I read this gospel it seems to me that Jesus is telling us to beware of words and actions that lead us away from him. He wants us to beware of temptations that are very attractive but lead us into sin.  These are the false prophets that Jesus wants us to beware of.

Supplementary Reading

Seeing Us for What We Will Become

. . . The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ~ Judges 6:12

G od always looks at His children for what they will be, not what they are now. The Lord already had seen Gideon as a leader of others, not just a laborer who threshed wheat.

Gideon was an Israelite who lived during a time of oppression from the Midianites. God had allowed Israel to be oppressed because of its rebellion. However, the Israelites cried out to God, and He heard their cry for help. He decided to free them from the oppression of their enemies. God chose a man with little experience in such matters to lead an army against Midian.

When God came to Gideon through a visit by an angel, the angel's first words to him were, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." God always looks at His children for what they will be, not what they are now. The Lord had already seen this man as a leader of others, not just a laborer who threshed wheat.

The apostle Paul said, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:13). God has reserved an inheritance for you and me. He has foreordained that we should accomplish great things in His name-not so that we will be accepted or become more valued, but to experience the reality of a living relationship with a God who wants to demonstrate His power through each of us.

What does God want to accomplish through you today? He used Gideon, with only 300 men, to deliver Israel from an army of more than 100,000. He demonstrated His power through one man who was willing to let God use what little faith he had to free a nation from oppression and bring glory to the God of Israel. The Lord delights in showing Himself strong through those who will trust Him. (OS Hillman)

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O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.