PROPER 10, YEAR B

July 14, 2024

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Warwick, R. I.

 

Amos 7:7-15

Psalm 85:8-13

Ephesians 1:3-14

Mark 6:14-29

 

Today’s readings highlight the theme of prophecy. Throughout biblical history, God raised up prophets to speak his Word and reveal his will, calling his people to faith and repentance.

 

Our Old Testament reading is taken from Amos, who’s not the first prophet in the Bible—that distinction arguably goes to Eldad and Medad in the Book of Numbers—but biblical scholars do believe the Book of Amos, dating back to the eighth century BC, to be the oldest of the prophetic books of the Old Testament.

 

And our Gospel reading recounts the death of John the Baptist, whom Christian tradition sometimes reckons as the last of the Old Testament prophets (even though he’s not explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament itself). So, between Amos and John the Baptist, we span the career of Old Testament prophecy.

 

The Christian tradition also teaches, however, that the age of prophecy did not end with the closing of the biblical canon. Down through the centuries, God raises up prophetic voices in every generation to bear witness to the truth of his Word and to spell out the Gospel’s implications for the challenges of each new era.

 

Within the last century, four figures come to mind as authentic modern-day prophets:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor who courageously opposed Hitler in Nazi Germany and was hanged in Sachsenhausen concentration camp as the war was ending.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, and worked to end racial discrimination and segregation, all the while condemning violence and advocating nonviolent means of resistance.

Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who spoke out on behalf of human rights for the poor and oppressed, and was shot dead while saying Mass in March 1980.

And finally, Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Archbishop of Capetown, whose activism helped end the apartheid regime in South Africa and pave the way for majority rule in 1994.

So, we have an ecumenical assortment: a Lutheran, a Baptist, a Roman Catholic, and an Anglican! Three out of the four died for their witness. And even if we don’t agree with everything that they said or did, we can still acknowledge all four as prophetic voices raised up by God in our own time. And there are many others.

 

Now, at this point in the sermon, the great temptation for the preacher is to start exhorting us to discern how God is calling each of all to find our own prophetic voice to denounce injustice and call for change in our own time and place. But I’m going to resist that temptation—because I think it’s a mistake. On the contrary, we’re probably not all called to be prophets. The Church, the Body of Christ, has room for many different callings, both lay and ordained, and prophetic witness on behalf of social justice is a ministry to which some but not all are called.

 

As Christians, however, we are all called to be alert, open, and attentive to the prophetic voices in our midst. Even if we don’t speak up ourselves, we always need to be listening. By contrast, in today’s Old Testament reading, the priest Amaziah tries to silence Amos: “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” When a genuine prophet comes into our midst, Amaziah shows us how not to respond!

 

King Herod in today’s Gospel is a bit more ambiguous. When John the Baptist rebukes him for marrying his brother’s wife—a clear violation of the Jewish Law—Herod has John arrested and put in prison. But he intends John’s imprisonment as a kind of protective custody because his wife Herodias wants John dead. And so, Mark writes, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.” 

For all Herod’s faults, there’s something praiseworthy there. When God sends a genuine prophet into our midst, we may find what that prophet says perplexing and even disturbing. But we do well to give the prophet a hearing, being quick to listen and slow to judge. (Unfortunately, of course, Herod ultimately allows himself to be manipulated into having John beheaded anyway.)

 

The further question is how to distinguish true from false prophets. For we can probably all call to mind false prophets in our own time, deceivers who’ve led their followers astray, often with catastrophic results. Think of Jim Jones, who orchestrated the Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana in 1978, with the loss of over 900 lives.

 

Well, it so happens that down through the centuries, the Church’s tradition has developed guidelines for discerning the truth or falsity of claimed revelations, visions, and prophecies.

 

One key test is whether the would-be prophet stands to gain anything personally from prophesying. When the priest Amaziah tells Amos to go back to Judah and earn his bread there, he’s accusing Amos of using prophecy as a means of making a living and getting bread to eat. But Amos is quick to disavow being a professional prophet: "I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees …" We get the sense that Amos would much rather be back home working in the fields. Nevertheless, he has no choice: "the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"

 

Another sign of an authentic prophet is not necessarily always telling people what they want to hear. Neither Amos nor John the Baptist seek popularity by flattering their audiences. On the contrary, they know that their witness will be costly. They’re willing to die fulfilling their calling, and indeed sometimes do.

 

The decisive test for us today, however, is that the prophet’s words and actions are consistent with God’s Word. This is certainly true of the authentic prophets in the Bible itself, from Amos to John the Baptist, and it continues to be true down to the present day.

 

Scripture, as interpreted by the Christian tradition, supplies the standard by which we assess and evaluate messages delivered by those claimed to be prophets in our time. As Saint Paul writes in today’s reading from the Letter to the Ephesians, “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will.”

 

So, we’re able to join with the Psalmist in declaring with joy: “I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people, and to those who turn their hearts to him.” In the coming week, let’s try to hold on to that verse and recall it at those moments when we need it most. “I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, for he is speaking peace to his faithful people, and to those who turn their hearts to him.”