The Never Failing Wisdom of the Prophets

 In these last few weeks I have been revisiting the Old Testament prophets words to a fallen and broken people conflicted by the human kings who habitually rule with unjust practices.

 According to Deborah. A. Block (Feasting On The Word p.54 Year C vol. 1):  

“The prophets say what no one wants to hear, what no one want to believe.  Prophets point in directions no one wants to look. They hear God when everybody else has concluded God is silent.  They see God where nobody else would guess that God is present.  They feel God.  Prophets feel God’s compassion for us, God’s anger with us, God’s joy in us.  They dream God’s dreams and utter wake-up calls; they hope God’s hopes and announce a new future; they will God’s will and live it against all odds….they were messengers of essential good news: “Do not fear…The LORD, your God is in your midst.”  “Don’t be afraid.”

The people that the Prophets are speaking to had become a defeated -- without hope or joy.

Actually, I am beginning to see a powerful comparison with the Hebrew people then; and we who live in today’s seemingly conflicted world.

We also live in a world of a disarray.  A time when, like in ancient Israel, there are those who wish to 'lead' with a negative, destructive, unjust mentality.  

People today are often left in a hopeless mental emotion. They feel displace in the "land of the free."

We are very much in need of some sign of hope.

And as we listen to the readings for Advent, the Old Testament Prophets speak and old prophecies, to a modern world.

The prophet Jeremiah, Zephaniah and Isaiah, try persistently to help them remember the promises God had made to them in the past.  Encouraging them to remember that God will bring hope for a future of well-being and peace.

On the third Sunday of Advent we hear the Prophet Zephaniah who interrupts the prevailing attitude, with God’s offer of a hopeful future that frees them from fear; and calls them to rejoice.

The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing...(Zehpaniah 3)

A key phrase echos consistently down through time: 

“Do not be afraid, do not fear,” 

God is with you in all and every circumstance.

We heard those words the night Jesus was born.

Jesus spoke those same word over and over again.

An I am wondering if it is time for God to send a new prophet, or two, to wake up an exhausted people.  A people who once again have lost their trust in God’s ever faithful presence; despite his seeming absence.

¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
   shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
   O daughter Jerusalem! 
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away the judgements against you,
   he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
   you shall fear disaster no more. 
¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
   do not let your hands grow weak. 
¹⁷ The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
   a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
   he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing 
¹⁸   as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
   so that you will not bear reproach for it. 
¹⁹ I will deal with all your oppressors
   at that time.
And I will save the lame
   and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
   and renown in all the earth. 
²⁰ At that time I will bring you home,
   at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
   among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
   before your eyes, says the Lord.(Zephaniah 3)