Tuesday, December 4, 2007

God's Word at Work

Jim:

Amos 3:1-11
Beginning in verse 3 there is a series of illustrative questions culminating in verse 8, which combines the imagery of the preceding verses: “The lion has roared, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” The bottom line is that when God calls someone to act as a prophet, they simply can not resist, any more than one might resist fear caused by the roaring of a wild animal. There is no point blaming the prophets, then, for the words they speak. They are only doing what God has compelled Them to do, only saying what God has revealed to them. To borrow a famous line from the movie “The Godfather”, it’s as if God has “made them an offer they can’t refuse.”

2 Peter 1:12-21
2 Peter offers a similar perspective on prophecy. Verses 20 and 21 read, “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” God is behind all revelation, God is in the word spoken by God’s prophets. Speaking that word is not an act that originates with the person, but rather is in response to God’s action. I think Peter would recognize this as an ongoing phenomenon and not reserved to the prophets of the past. When we prophesy, that is when we speak God’s word for the world with authority, it is in response to God’s activity. In 2 Corinthians Paul says, “What we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord.” In other words it’s not about us. But as the writer of 2 Peter reminds us, speaking the word doesn’t begin with us either.

Matthew 21:12-22
According to Matthew, the religious leaders of Jerusalem objected to what the children were saying about Jesus, calling him the Son of David. Jesus’ reply was to quote Psalm 8. “Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, have you never read, “Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself ?”’” Again, God’s word must be proclaimed, God’s praise must be uttered. God is at work making that word alive in our midst, whether it is on the lips of prophets or of children.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The Lion has roared, but I'm not sure anyone has heard; the prophets have been speaking, but many aren't listening. Maybe part of what Advent means is learning to listen.

Unknown said...

The Lion has roared, but I'm not sure anyone has heard; the prophets have been speaking, but many aren't listening. Maybe part of what Advent means is learning to listen.