Wednesday in the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, June 28, 2023

Matthew 7, 15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.”

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.”  St. Matthew quotes the Lord Jesus twice on the subject of false prophets.  In the other passage, found in Matthew 24, 23-26, the Lord provides more detail, speaking of “false prophets and false Christs” who will perform wonders so convincing that even the elect will be tested in their faith.  In the context of his warning, these false prophets will arise in the time shortly before the end of the world.  St. John will later identify these as “the Antichrist” (1 John 4, 3), and St. Paul will speak explicitly of “the man of sin” and “the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2, 3).  Jesus warns his believers to beware of them because they are servants of the devil who will lure many away from the path of virtue and faith to destruction.  When they come, they will present themselves wearing “sheep’s clothing”, that is, the appearance of goodness.  People will follow them not because they recognize them as evil but because they believe them to be doing God’s work.  This is the mystery of the Beast in the Book of Revelation: his number, 666, is not an evil number — in fact, it was a number considered by ancient people as a perfect number because the number six is the sum of its parts: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6.  The Beast, the false prophets, the Antichrist, will fool people with appearances.  We should note that Jesus speaks of the sign of “the sheep’s clothing”: he himself is the Lamb of God.  The false prophets shall make themselves out to be the Lord’s forerunner before the end of time or the Lord himself.  Beneath the appearances, however, these false prophets are “ravenous wolves” who will devour those foolish and faithless enough to follow them.  This devouring will take place both here on earth and in hell.  

The Lord warns his followers of the false prophets as though they were expected during their lifetimes.  St. John confirms that in his day they were already gone abroad: “He is now already in the world” (1 John 4, 3) and “Many seducers are gone out into the world” (2 John 7).  Each age has its false prophets.  No age is without them.  They often come in the form of religious or social reformers and are later known for the heretics and apostates and persecutors of the Church that they are.  

To recognize them for who they are and so to avoid their snares, the Lord advises us, “By their fruits you will know them.”  Through the orthodoxy of their preaching and their practice of the virtues we can know whether they lead us to or away from God.  St. Paul puts it another way: “Test all things: hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5, 21).

“Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  The false prophet gives “bad fruit” which may look healthy but which poisons those who eat it.  The false prophet will suffer death and will be cast into the flames of hell.  He will be silenced and punished.  We might wonder why God allows the false prophet to speak at all.  He does this in order to give the false prophet time to reflect and repent.  

It is necessary for us to pray for the grace to recognize the false prophets who infest the present day so that we might stand fast in the truth that God has revealed to us.