Prophets

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
 do not fear the reproach of others, 
and do not be dismayed when they revile you. 
For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool;
 but my deliverance will be for ever, and my salvation to all generations.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord!
 Awake, as in days of old, 
the generations of long ago!
 Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon? 
Was it not you who dried up the sea, 
the waters of the great deep;
who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over? 
So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
 everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
 they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 

I, I am he who comforts you; why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die, a human being who fades like grass? 
You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
 and laid the foundations of the earth.
You fear continually all day long
because of the fury of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction.
 But where is the fury of the oppressor? 
The oppressed shall speedily be released; 
they shall not die and go down to the Pit, nor shall they lack bread. 
For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the Lord of hosts is his name. 
I have put my words in your mouth, and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
 stretching out the heavens
 and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ~ Isaiah 51:7-16
More than anything else in scripture, (prophets) remind us that those odd ducks shouting from the margins of society may see things more clearly than the political and religious leaders with the inside track. We ignore them at our own peril. ~ Rachel Held Evans
What is a prophet?

 What do you think about prophets?

 Do we need some prophets now? Or do we have them and are we ignoring them?

 What do we do with prophets when we have them?

 One thing prophets have in common is that we tend to either disavow them or kill them.  Although Isaiah’s death is not recorded in Hebrew Scriptures, tradition has it that he was martyred, sawn in half.
We may not have prophets today of the stature of Isaiah or Jeremiah or even Martin Luther King, Jr. (another prophet who was martyred). But they exist.  I’ve seen them in congregations and in the world – truth tellers who tell things as they are and how they will be if we continue on a path.  Not necessarily what we want to hear a lot of the time. It’s a sticky wicket in the United States. We don’t want our politics and our religion mixed, not in church and not out of church.
But where would things have been had MLK or Jeremiah or Hosea or Isaiah not mixed politics with religion? 
Of course, the mixing of politics with faith inevitably leads to “what” politics and “whose” politics, so it isn’t always easy to discern when “truth” is told in context of religion whether we are hearing prophesy or ideology.

 God's prophets of the Old Testament give us some clues."The oppressed shall speedily be released" says Isaiah.

 Or Jeremiah about the greedy: "For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich."

 And Amos: "But let justice roll down roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

 27 
Maybe most helpful to me is another prophet. Micah 6:8 serves as a great reminder: What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God?"
I’m thankful for the witness and prophetic wisdom today of prophets who took take these words to heart. And I hope that when I hear prophetic words of wisdom that show the heart of Micah's call, that I will recognize them and I will heed them.

 Who are our prophets? Are we listening to them?

 Even when we don't really want to hear what they have to say?

Prayer: Lord of all, you send us prophets and we ignore them or kill them.  But you don't give up on us. You keep sending them so that we may hear your truth and your truth may set us free. Thank you. Help us to recognize those words of truth when we hear them.  Amen




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