[Sermon for St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Phoenix, Arizona, on the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 30, 2022 (https://stmarysphoenix.org)]
✠ In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
From the perspective of our tradition, being a prophet must be one of the least desirable jobs on the planet.
First, let us clear up any misconceptions we have about the word “prophet.” Often, we have a mental picture of an unkempt man in a long robe that is a little worse for wear, not as well acquainted with soap and water as one may wish, and making wild-eyed predictions of doom and destruction. Sometimes that picture is not that far off from the truth, but if we look at the correct definition of a prophet, we see that a prophet is much more than the popular picture.
But as far as job descriptions go, it is still a burden.
Our word prophet comes from the Greek word προφήτης, meaning “one who speaks up,” and it has a strong religious connotation. It is used to translate the Hebrew word נְבִיאִים, meaning “spokesperson,” which also has a strong religious connotation. This connotation is that the speaker, the prophet, is speaking on behalf of God for an immediate need or reason. Predictions of things to come may indeed be part of it, but the prophet’s message is more often than not concerned with the here and now, and that is where the un-fun part of being a prophet comes to the forefront. Coupled with that, contrary to common perception that a prophet is a surly misanthrope who would love nothing more than seeing the wrath of God rain down like fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but we shall see that is not the case.
Most prophets show a distinct lack of enthusiasm about their calling. For instance, Jeremiah is quite honest about his qualifications, or rather, the lack thereof. “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”[1] Here he claims that he is quite unprepared for the scary task that God drops on him, namely to be “a prophet to the nations,”[2] “to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”[3] Let us compare Isaiah’s complaint, “For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!”[4] Even the greatest prophet of Israel was less than thrilled; Moses complained that he was a nobody,[5] he did not know God’s Name,[6] he had no credibility,[7] he had a speech impediment,[8] and he just didn’t want to do it.[9] Of course, none of these prophets got off the hook, and they spent the rest of their careers speaking on behalf of God…at length.
Part of the problem with the job is that prophets generally do not predict the future. The bulk of prophetic utterance is God calling out people for being inconsiderate, nasty little clods, or even monsters, citing concrete examples and providing counter examples illustrating proper behaviour. Mixed in with the declaration of dire consequences for dire behaviour are declarations of God’s love and care if people turn away from these behaviours and turn to Him. The message is not a simple chastisement of sins with a sky-rendering “REPENT” shouted at the end, however, but a call for true repentance, showing that God is always waiting to show mercy on the penitent, to take them back into His loving embrace, and to have a real relationship with them, no matter what has gone on before.
Despite this, even if the message is ultimately a positive one, NO ONE likes to have their shortcomings broadcast, or their self-delusions torn down, no matter how generalized, hopeful, or balanced the message may be. Let us face it, self-reflection stings, and other people doing it for you stings even worse, and our first impulse when someone confronts us about our faults and sins is to punch them in the face. However, when the prophet addresses a group of people, things get a bit messier, and when the message is for high government officials, the situation can get very dicey very fast. Our Lord put it this way, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown,”[10] and indeed Jesus was run out of His own home town that very day. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, He puts the lot of the prophet more bluntly (embedded no less in a prophetic message for you lovers of irony out there):
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.”[11]
It seems the job carries a higher than usual casualty rate.
Despite this bleak outlook on a prophet’s career prospects, the prophet cannot allow bitterness to take hold. The prophet must be motivated by love, proclaim in love, and react in love, or else all is for nothing, as we see in our Epistle reading for today.[12] Here, St. Paul is not providing pre-marital counselling, which is a common misapplication of the text, but he is providing the primary underlying motivation that should be in place to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels,”[13] “if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,”[14] “If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,”[15] are not hyperbolic declarations of superpowers contrasted against the virtues of having love, but these are actual spiritual gifts that St. Paul is expecting us the Church actually to possess.
Note that prophecy is in the very middle of that list. Does it surprise you that the job of prophet is open to Christians? The New Testament is full of prophets, including the Apostles but also Agabus[16] or the daughters of the deacon Philip.[17] In fact, the Tradition of the Church holds many men and women through the subsequent centuries had this gift. Even today, the gift of prophecy is alive and well, if somewhat hard to pick out from all the noise, but we should not expect it to have become any easier to bear.
This brings us back to St. Paul’s exhortation, however. His point in this passage is that this gift, this act on God’s behalf, is utterly worthless if it is not surrounded by and suffused with love. Along with everyone else, a prophet is to be patient and kind, neither envious, nor boastful, nor rude, neither headstrong, nor irritable, nor resentful, and NOT taking pleasure when someone does wrong or has a mishap. The prophet is to rejoice in the truth. The prophet bears everything, believes everything, hopes in everything, and endures everything. No matter what what that “everything” is, God expects the prophet to receive it all in the spirit of love, patience, and endurance. That is a heavy cross to endure, to point out the ills and woes of society, to proclaim God’s message of redemption, repentance, and reconciliation, and to lovingly take it on the chin when it goes over like a lead balloon. Which it will.
Not everyone bears the gift of being a prophet. But when a prophet arises among us, those of us who are not prophets need to be supportive of those who are, because our prophets will suffer for their witness and will need all the support we can give. The role is important, but it can be lonely, it can wear down the bearer, but that is why it manifests within the community of the faithful. Not everyone can be a prophet, but some can provide hospitality, some can provide encouragement, some can provide spiritual healing, some can provide some other act of mercy to support that prophet. When we recognize that one of our own has been weighed down with a prophetic burden, we too must exercise the love that St. Paul enjoins us to have, because prophecy will eventually fade way,[18] but, along with faith and hope, love will be here forever, and as the Holy Apostle writes to us, love is the greatest of them all.[19]
✠ Through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, Saviour save us. Amen.
Prophets Iconostasis Tier, 17th Century, Yaroslavl, Russia
[1] Jer. 1.6 [2] Jer. 1.5 [3] Jer. 1.10 [4] Is. 6.5 [5] Ex. 3.11 [6] Ex. 3. 13 [7] Ex. 4.1 [8] Ex. 4.10 [9] Ex. 4.13 It is at this point God tells Moses Aaron can help him and to shut up and just do the job. (Ex. 4.14 ff.) [10] Lk. 4.24 [11] Mt. 23.29-36 [12] 1 Cor. 13.1-13 [13] 1 Cor. 13.1 [14] 1 Cor. 13.2 [15] 1 Cor. 13.3 [16] Acts 11.28, 21.10 [17] Acts 21.9 [18] 1 Cor. 13.8` [19] 1 Cor. 13.13