Word to the Wise
Thursday, March 23, 2017 - 3rd Week of Lent - Thurs
[Jer 7:23-28 and Luke 11:14-23]"This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me." [Jeremiah]
Jeremiah is one dramatic prophet. But from the very outset of his ministry he makes it clear that he hates the job. The prophets of the Old Testament uniformly (except for Jonah) experienced what we would call failure in their work. People turned their backs and not their faces to God. The same is true today in so many ways. Folks don't like a person who keeps saying, "You'll be sorrrrryyyy!" even if that's what happens.
The role of a prophet is to call the people back to the truth of God and living according to the commandments. It's not a matter of blindly following a list of "do's and don't's" but really a matter of the heart. Ezekiel speaks of God giving us a "new heart and a new spirit." In a more modern way, the great Catholic novelist, Flannery O'Connor, when asked why her stories contained such difficult characters and plots, replied that people have long since stopped listening to regular religious talk, so she said, "to the deaf you shout and for the blind you draw large and startling figures." That's the job of a prophet in a nutshell.
In Lent we might ask if God's Spirit is speaking to us face to face or do we need to be poked in the back? Or should I say, poked in the heart! AMEN
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