Bring on the Prophets! – From Sunday 12th October

This Sunday we looked at Jesus’ words in Matthew 23. 37-39 – which comes at the end of his severe criticism of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times have I wanted to put my arms round all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!  And so your Temple will be abandoned and empty. From now on, I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, ‘God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

We saw “Jerusalem” as representing the religious system and leadership of Israel and “prophets” as those sent by God to speak direction and challenge from outside the system.  The system stones the prophets for all sorts of “good ” reasons – national security, danger of subversion, etc (as well as the fear among its leadership of loss of status!).

Jesus, as the supreme prophet, wanted to “gather her children” to himself. We saw him as the new and necessary focus – the Way, Truth and Life of the Father – who stands outside the religious system and calls not just Jews but people of all nations to come and follow him.  As a mother hen, he is God the Mother.  As God the Father  his way is one of empowering as he  gives his children a share in his kingdom as their inheritance.  Religious systems dominate people: Jesus sets them free and empowers them!

But who stones the prophets?  Just the leaders?  The crowd welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem, but then turned on him before Pilate.  It’s the whole system that’s the problem.  People need some structure and system to live by (otherwise we’d have to re-invent the wheel every day), but when the structures become the end in themselves, when the rituals and traditions rule, then we’ve lost the plot well and truly and we all stone the prophets.

So what’s the challenge to us today?  First and foremost – listen to God – listen for the prophetic.  The church is supposed to be first and foremost a prophetic community.  Is it so?  Or does it too easily get bogged down and comfortable in “this is what we do”, and “this is what we know”?  And where do we hear the prophets?  Are they all locked up in church circles or does the Holy Spirit speak through people outside the church too?  Well, surely he does!

The sting in the tail is this.  “Your Temple will be abandoned and empty (till you learn to say) Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”. So bring on the prophets and let’s move forward in spirit and truth!