The Prophetic Imagination - Part 3

We often get the impression that the prophet operated as a lone voice over and against the rest of society. This idea is reinforced when we flick through the prophetic books of the bible and find that they are all named after particular prophets: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah etc.

Certainly, there were times when the prophets felt alone. Remember Elijah sitting by himself, wishing for his own death, claiming that he was the only faithful prophet left?

But even then, Elijah was not alone, because Obediah had hidden 100 prophets in caves and supplied them with bread and water.

Or take Moses for example, when God commands him to go to Pharaoh he replies, ‘I’m not eloquent, I am slow in speech and of tongue’. And so God brings his brother Aaron to him so that they can fulfill the prophetic calling - not alone but together.

Before they confront Pharaoh, they go to Israel, gather the elders, and begin to cultivate the prophetic imagination in them asking, ‘do you remember when things were different? Can you imagine a different future?’ In other words, the prophets belonged to prophetic communities in which their own prophetic imaginations could be cultivated.

For as long as there have been prophets, there have been those who ape the prophetic voice. Last episode we compared the prophets of Baal who ate from Jezebel’s table with the prophets of God who were surviving on rations of bread and water hiding in a cave. The prophets around Jezebel’s table knew what to say and what not to say if they were going to survive and they had no interest in delivering a word from ‘beyond’.

This culture of fear and coerced agreement contrasts with the culture of love which Jesus cultivates amongst his disciples. Jesus says ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ If we love each other the way Christ loves us then we know we will be there for each other no matter what. This kind of love produces freedom to be honest and this honesty and love are the wellspring of the prophetic imagination.       

 

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