Welcome to Advent 2. Today the Prophets!
Last week Advent 1 – the Patriarchs, so up at St Lukes I preached about the Matriarchs. Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel – and pointed out how None of them had their own private epiphany moment of encountering the divine, they did what they did with a huge amount of faith – and look what they did – that’s hugely encouraging – the faith of these women. So be like them- keep the faith.
And then we looked at how actually each of these women were very often rubbish role models – jealousy, abuse, spite, manipulation – so don’t copy those bits of them – but instead look to the Faithfulness of God who kept pushing forward His covenant promise even when these flawed women failed.
Ooh Happy New Year – that started last week. A lot of people like to start their new year with fireworks, a big bang, a big party. We don’t do that. We start it with just one candle. And it is the beginning of faith, of revelation, as we look to those who were the founding fathers and mothers of our faith.
But now as we turn to the prophets we see with a little more light, a 2nd candle. Hope is getting brighter. And that’s good. We need more hope.
The OT has a number of different sorts of prophets. I’m going to crudely break them into 4 categories. As we look at each one, my challenge to you is to think of How are you like each of these prophets – it may be that you will relate more to some than to others and that’s okay. And the other challenge will be to think about Who it is who is a bit like that sort of prophet to you.
So, consider prophets like Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha. These were early prophets in your bible and they were powerful. Miracles came from them. And when trouble came they interceded, they spoke to God on behalf of the afflicted and God’s blessing came down.
So, let’s start of by thinking about how you intercede for others.
We have a prayer chain, it’s an email that goes out to lots of people and says something very simple like – please pray for Lucy – it might not tell you which Lucy, and it might not tell you why – but that’s not always needed, what’s needed is for you to pray.
So, you can be like this sort of prophet – the interceding sort.
And bear in mind that there are days we go through when life is so busy and horrible that we fail to pray in which case we need others to be interceding for us.
So think about who you can talk to and say Please pray for me.
- The interceding prophet
- then there’s the Advisory Prophet.
Think of Nathan the prophet advising King David. Think of Jeremiah talking to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. Think Daniel and the lions’ den, think Joseph and his colourful coat!
The advisory prophet is there to give God’s wisdom often to those in power.
Yes go to war. No do not go to war. Yes collect lots of grain because there’s going to be a famine.
That sort of thing.
But also often they are there to call out the stupidity of rulers.
So Nathan to David: Don’t have an abusive relationship with Bathsheba; she’s a married woman.
Jeremiah to Zedekiah – Do surrender to the Babylonians it will be our best chance for survival and rebuilding.
Advice that is alas often not taken.
In the book of Kings you will find Schools of Prophets – here we have people learning to be an advisory sort of prophet. They might well be professionals, paid by the King’s Court to give advice.
Of course you can also see the problem of not wanting to bite the hand that feeds you, so very often these sorts of prophets would merely speak what they thought the King wanted to hear.
This is tricky because we want friends who will say nice things to us like – Of course you’re right and everyone else is wrong, of course you’re doing the right thing and that other person is wrong.
We all want friends like this, but the sort of friend we really need is the prophet who will speak truth to us.
That’s not easy to say. Its not easy to hear.
Perhaps John the Baptist would be a good example of this. You should get a sermon just on him next week but in this week’s readings we find a prophet who invites us to look to our sins, to reflect on our selfishness, on where we fail to put God first, where we indulge in judging others whilst not forgiving those who have sinned against us.
John calls out the Pharisees as a Brood of Vipers. That’s not nice to be told you’re children of Satan, children of the accuser, who tempted Adam and Eve with the Apple and all that. That’s not a nice thing to say. But now add to it that in those days it was thought that the new born vipers would eat their mother. We now know that that’s not true, but that’s missing the point – you would have heard that insult as really thoroughly rude and disgusting, but also the notion that in your faith you are cutting off your roots, destroying the anchor that holds you to God, eating up the matriarchs and patriarchs of your faith.
Its not easy to be this sort of prophet. This is what gets a prophet stoned! It is what got John the Baptist beheaded.
But we do need prophets like this in our lives. People who will speak faith and truth to us whether we want to hear it or not. We don’t need too many of them. I think one is enough, two is plenty!
But we also need to pray for courage and grace to speak truth to others when we fear that they are walking away from God, from the source of life, light and love.
Please note that even in John’s speech there is hope. There is the challenge and call to be Fruitful, to do something useful with your life, something that builds community, and love and faith in Jesus.
Here’s the reminder, the hope that we are not alone – the promise of a baptism in Jesus.
John’s baptism was just the baptism of starting again, or repentance, of turning over a new leaf, a commendable good start, we all do it,
But with Baptism into Jesus Christ we find that the gift of the Holy Spirit comes to us. This inner fire that burns up our sins and drives us forward with courage to be the sort of prophet that God is calling you to be.
For different people and at different times I think you will find yourself being a different sort of prophet. Perhaps the Miracle, interceding type of prophet like Samuel and Elijah. Or the Wisdom Advisory sort of prophet – speaking truth to power like Deborah, or John the Baptist.
I think it is less likely that you will be the sort of prophet who predicts the future. This is what so many of us default to when we think ‘What is a prophet’?
Here we have Isaiah telling how a virgin will conceive, and the child will be ‘God with us’.
Or Micah telling us that the messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Joel encouraging us that God’s Holy Spirit will be poured out on all God’s people. Hearts of stone changed to hearts of flesh.
But these prophets were speaking hope into dark times, they were keeping people anchored in the promises of God. And it might be that you can be that sort of prophet.
Or perhaps it might be that you know someone who is able to be that sort of prophet to you.
Someone who speaks faith and hope in to your life when you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death, – and there is a disciple of Jesus who walks with you and speaks hope and light to keep you resilient and holding on to Jesus.
This is the prophet who brings you back to the messiah. Here’s the reminder that we worship a persistent God who does not leave your or forget you.
Its not easy to be that sort of prophet. It takes courage. And its not always easy to hear that sort of prophet.
Our OT passage gives a picture of Jesus as full of the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, and one who does Right Judging not prejudicial, and one who brings justice to the poor. This is a good image of God to come back to.
And Isaiah gives us a different image of heaven, not one with fluffy clouds but one without fear, the wolf will live with the lamb, a young child will put its hand into a viper’s nest. – all without fear. Because here we find all things reconciled to God in Jesus Christ.
There’s one more category of prophet that I have seen. Hosea is invited to feel God’s pain, what its like to be rejected by a nation, so he finds himself with an unfaithful wife. Or Amos or Jeremiah or Ezekiel who feel God’s desire for right living, for justice, for mercy.
I would not wish you to be this sort of prophet. I suspect that this sort is the most painful of all.
But God has poured his love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit – and so that means that we do each at different times feel a spiritual discombobulation, an empathy with God, an anger at injustice and hurt. So that all that we can do is speak it out, pray it out, and cry for more of God’s Kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Today, Advent 2, we celebrate the aspect of what it means for each of us to be a Prophet of some sort. And to look out for the different prophets who come into our lives.
May you come to see the prophet who is there with their faith to intercede for you and lift you up to God when your faith is struggling.
And may you Have a try at being this prophet and praying for others.
May you be open to the Prophet who speaks truth, and love, to you. Its not easy to hear. But this is the voice of one calling you to repent, calling us to prepare for more of God in our lives.
And may you gently practice at being may be the sort of prophet who can pastorally draw along side another and speak Jesus and hope into another’s life.
Because there you will see God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. //
a sermon preached on Advent 2 2025. photo is from the Rose window in St Leonard’s