4 min. read
Jesus is recorded as having said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you …” (Luke 13.34). It’s not too hard to see why prophets are rejected, even killed. We prophets are hard to tolerate for too long.
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Firstly, let me point out what a prophet is not. A prophet is not a fortune teller, not someone who forecasts the future. Rather, a prophet is someone who communicates (either written or verbally) about what is and what might be. Also, a prophet is not an angry denouncer of what society deems good (though we do get angry from time to time). Rather, a prophet dares to name what is stupid about the current reality.
Cornel West gives a lecture in which he ties the prophetic voice to failure. You can read a transcript of his lecture here. Prophets very often fail, because a prophet gives voice to suffering. West states there is a prophetic way of being in the world, which is tied to failure.
Why failure? Because prophets give life to empathy and imagination. One is tied to the other. Prophetic voices empathize with the plight of the present and imagine a different future. And such a way to view the world is very often deemed a failure by those who hold power.
Speaking Truth to Power About the Present
To speak truth about current reality is a dangerous proposition. Many people don’t want to hear the truth. But there are some that do.
Those who welcome the prophetic voice about the present are generally those that are oppressed. Or those that recognize something is not right with the current narrative being fed to them, by those in power, about the current reality. The ones who despise the prophets for naming what is wrong with current reality are generally the ones in power. They are the emperors who have no clothes, and no one has dared to name their nakedness until the prophet comes along.
It’s those with religious and political power who killed Jesus. The same happens today. Prophets don’t last long in most US American churches because the local leaders, the ones with power, sense they will lose control and authority if the prophet is allowed to speak for very long. The same scenario plays out in all cultural organizations. It happened to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s happened to me, more than once. And it continues to happen to nameless hundreds who dare to empathize with the powerless and speak on their behalf.
This is why prophets are said to be the ones who speak truth to power. We stand in the face of power elites and name their stupidity, their incompetence, their lack of compassion, their ignorance, their will to further themselves on the backs of others. You can see why the powerful (religious, political, economic, etc) have often ostracized, persecuted, and killed prophets in order to silence them.
We prophets don’t just want to rock the boat; we want to sink it. Tweet this
Imagining a Possible Future
To speak truth about the possible future is also dangerous. Many don’t want to hear the imaginative possibilities communicated by the prophet.
Often, the power elites who don’t want to hear about the present don’t mind the prophet speaking about the future. Whether it’s a message of doom-and-gloom or something different, the prophetic voice that names possible new futures can be beneficial to the ones in power. This is because it takes the focus off the present and allows the powerful to retain their power, no matter how fleeting. Instead, it’s generally the oppressed who don’t want to hear the prophet’s imaginative play on the future. Because even if we don’t like the present reality, at least we know what to expect. The future, however it plays out, scares the hell out of us.
Help a Prophet Out
Prophets have a hard go of it. If a prophet sticks around long enough, and refuses to give into the pervasive desire to abandon the fire in their bellies by being silent, inevitably they will piss somebody off.
So if you know a prophet, if you share space and time and life with a prophetic voice that mixes empathy and imagination by naming the truth of the current reality and speaking into life new possibilities, do me a favor. Be gracious to them. Listen to them, even if they make you uncomfortable. Don’t try to discredit them or run them off, even if you don’t like what they have to say.
A true prophet rallies with words. That’s why often the weapon used against them also takes the form of words. Let your words to them be kind, grace-filled, and patient.
Yes, we prophets get angry sometimes and spout off in ways we regret later on. But there’s truth-telling in our anger. Choose to hear the nuggets of wisdom and ignore the vehicle of the words.
That’s all we ask. Listen. Think. Encourage. Be patient. There’s a reason we’re communicating. It may or may not apply to you. But if you become the persecutor of a prophet, you’ll always end up on the wrong side of history.