In a post I wrote last week, I suggested that being a prophet is dangerous. As I reflected more upon that, I have been wondering as well why it seems so difficult for people to recognize prophets in their own time. It seems that prophets are like artists-- their work is not appreciated nor does it become important until after they are dead. Jesus himself recognized this in his own day as he excoriated the religious leaders for revering the prophets their ancestors killed, and questioning their assumption that had they lived in the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah, et al they would have welcomed the prophetic word unlike their forefathers and foremothers.
To be sure, some do recognize prophets in their own time-- Elijah and Elisha had their followers. Jesus had his disciples. Martin Luther and John Wesley all had their devoted laity, and Martin Luther King, Jr. had those who marched with him in the streets. But, it seems that generally prophets struggle to convince those with power, those who have a stake in the status quo, those who benefit the most by everything staying as it is. The prophetic word threatens to disrupt the way things are.
Moreover, we human beings tend to judge the prophetic word based upon whether or not we agree with it. We judge a politician to be prophetic if we like her politics. We anoint a pastor as prophet as one who challenges others to believe and act in ways of which we approve. No one ever gives the title prophet to someone whose words simply cannot be assented to in good conscience. I have yet to hear someone say, "I disagree with everything she says! What a prophet she is!"
I don't think I have any definitive answer as to why prophets are not recognized in their own time, other than to say that so often we are caught up in the moment in such a way as it is so often difficult, if not impossible to hear the prophetic word because it comes to us in a way that grates against our sensibilities, and stabs at what we cherish. Perhaps only the longer view of history is needed to make true judgments about the prophetic word. Perhaps only our descendants can truly benefit in a large way by the prophetic word spoken by the prophets in our time, as they stand removed from the heat of the current moment.
I am not confident that Jesus' people, the church, would necessarily treat Jesus any better than those who rejected him in the world of his day. And like the religious leaders in Matthew 23, it would be presumptuous of us to think otherwise.
2 comments:
I think Canadian singer-songwriter, and perhaps prophet of our time had an insight into prophets and the prophetic - this is from his 1981 Inner City Front album, the chorus goes like this: "Everybody loves to see justice done on somebody else." Especially, I think, those who benefit from the way things are.
It seems as humans we are prisoners to our pride, instead of to the Truth, who sets us free. If we truly know our Shepherd's voice, and submit to His authority in our lives, then hearing out what anyone has to say should be no big deal. Because submitting to His will in our lives makes us sacrificially loving of others. The world knows who are Christ followers by the expressed love of that believer, not because they belong to this church, or that one. Saying that I belong to this church or that one gets me in more hot water with the unsaved than if I say I belong to none and simply follow Christ, believe it or not. We are also a prisoner to our culture, that teaches us how to respond to women, different ethnic groups, the mentally ill, the poor. We must be very careful, particularly in the U.S., that we know and follow what Scripture teaches, and be able to differentiate that from what our culture teaches. Susan
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