Prophet, Priest, and Person

Scripture Passage that Caught my attention today: Revelation 10:10-11 So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
Rev. 10:11 Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

Observation: Being a prophet isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Application: In a Bible study at church last week we were talking about prophets and prophecy and to what extent such people and messages exist today. I explained that, at least from a Lutheran perspective, prophets only speak when inspired by God. I recounted pastor/theologian Rheinhold Neibur’s observation and lament in the early 1900’s that “a prophet speaks only when inspired; a parish priest must speak whether he [or she] is inspired or not.” I also mentioned that prophets are less about predicting the future and more about speaking a particular word to a particular people in a particular time and place. I even mentioned that prophets do not generally seek fortunes for themselves.

What I didn’t mention, because I didn’t think of it at the time, was that prophets sometimes (but not always) are given a word to speak that hurts; it’s painful to speak and painful to hear. Yes, it might seem, at one’s first thought, that being a prophet would be ‘sweet as honey.’ More often than not, however, it appears to be a bitter pill to swallow.

Historically speaking, often times the people didn’t listen to the prophets. Sometimes the prophets were imprisoned and/or ridiculed. Sometimes God put instructed them, as an example, to go through rather odd rituals, such as when God instructed one of the prophets lay on his side for over 300 days.

No matter. Being a prophet is not a choice or an aspiration; it is a calling—whether for a moment or a lifetime.

Thankfully, I understand myself to be a pastor. One of the incredible things about being a pastor is the trust that God can and does speak through us regardless of how high (or low) the reading might be on our inspiration meter. In fact, sometimes God’s best work seems to get done when we feel the least inspired. Conversely, sometimes when we think we are full of inspiration…well…we later discover that perhaps we were just full of ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for whatever messages you send through whoever you send them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Ezekiel 25-28 and Revelation 10)