Isaiah ~ Advent Prophet

"The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul and he is bored and stunned by man's fierce greed. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. God is raging in the prophet's words. The prophet is intent on intensifying responsibility, is impatient with excuses, contemptuous of pretense and self-pity. His tone, rarely sweet and caressing , is frequently consoling and disburdening; his words are often slaying even horrid - designed to shock rather than edify."

THE PROPHET ISAIAH LIVED 750 YEARS BEFORE JESUS. Those Christian communities which share a common Lectionary (book of readings) become familiar with Isaiah during Advent, and many of the texts sung in Handel's Messiah come to us from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.

But as Isaiah is a long and layered book of the Hebrew Scriptures, it takes time to become familiar with its many themes. In the first section Isaiah warns the ancient Hebrews against corruption born of prosperity, the worship of false gods and mistaken and false alliances. Reading these pages we might move along thinking that this is just about 'them' - hardly mindful that God's Word is perennial and has everything to do with us - as families, as nation, as Church.

But before we read a little of Isaiah, notice in the painting above that the prophet has spirit-wind blowing on him and that the Hebrew message he shares is in a bold font. His eyes are clear and intense; his rolled up sleeve reveals a strong forearm. This prophet means business. Here's an Isaiah sampler:

The faithful city,

what a harlot she has become!

Zion, once full of fair judgment,

where saving justice used to dwell,

but now assassins!

Your silver has turned into dross,

your wine is watered.

Your princes are rebels,

accomplices of brigands,.

All of them greedy for presents

and eager for bribes,

they show no justice to the orphan, 

and the widow's cause never reaches them. (1:21-23)

The county is full of horses, its chariots are unlimited;

the country is full of idols.

They bow down before the work of their hands,

before what their own fingers have made. (2:7,8)

Because Zion's daughters are proud

and walk with heads held high

and enticing eyes-with mincing steps they go,

jingling the bangles on their feet (3:16)

Woe to those who add house to house

and join field to field until there is nowhere left

and they are the sole inhabitants of the country. (5:8)

What might the prophet say today?

1 O nation once faithful,
creating friendships
which serve your purposes.
Making money from war -
calling the death of
my littlest ones,
collateral damage.

I told you in the time of Moses,
no gods of metal,
yet you profit richly
from technology and
preparations for war.

2 You are addicted to
pharmaceuticals,
products and
procedures
you believe will
erase your aging.
Walgreens and Rite-Aid are your shrines.

3 You deny me the sound of
your voice,
wrangling
in partisan politics.
Personalities are your priests;
CNN, FOX, MSNBC
your new
Word of the Lord.

4 The country gorges itself
with huge portions
while the children
weaken and starve.
Charity is your cheap justification,
but I say justice.

5 Your billion dollar stadiums -
your new cathedrals
sparkling
while emptying churches fall into ruin,
the housing stock of the poor
decays.

6 A people unwilling  to stop the money-wheel
they work and shop round the clock -
as their families break down
in alienation and loneliness,
as the children I give them
become enslaved.

7 Fun and entertainment
have stolen away your hearts from me.
The ancients of Mesopotamia worshiped stars;
you dance with them.

8 The nation that flies to me in calamity,
has forgotten my name.
Claiming prestige in what they wear -
they celebrate
the designers of underwear.

9 Your capitalism like children in riotous play,
profiting some; leaving many behind.
A quarter of your children are poor.
Overtaken by greed,
you're made toxic by possessing.

10 I weep that you've destroyed and poisoned
the paradise-gift I created for you.
In your appetite for things
the plants and animals vanish.
The earth bleeds from below the waters
as you've raped her for your gain.

11 Portending a great gloom,
the blind-darkness of their love of guns
supersedes their love for me.
O that they were as zealous
in the care of their children
and the world beyond their window.

12 I sent my Christmas angel
with the message of No fear,
the heavenly army
singing Peace on earth.
You answer
with an evasive bomber
above the clouds:
raining angel of terror.

13 You see the elderly poor unfed,
the child without a doctor,
the mother with no shelter.
They shiver in the parks and
on the streets of your
domed and white-pillared headquarters.
Still you throw money like incense
at the billion dollar flying weapon.
Indeed, stop insulting me:
"One nation under God."
I will tell the truth:
One nation under Lockheed, Boeing and Gruman."

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah ends with the 66th chapter. In those verses God declares his desire to make something new: God coming to gather the nations and languages to witness God's glory. 

Maranatha! Lord, Come Quickly 
(I Corinthians 16:22)

Holy Prophet Jeremiah

SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT A PROPHET is someone who simply foretells the future. That's too simple and misses the prophet's larger role. The quote below (which came to me without authorship) clues us in and deserves a second and even third reading. The paragraph begins, "The prophet is a man..." Of course women can be prophets too.

"The prophet is a man who feels fiercely, God has thrust a burden upon his soul and he is bored and stunned by man's fierce greed. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. God is raging in the prophet's words. The prophet is intent on intensifying responsibility, is impatient with excuses, contemptuous of pretense and self-pity. His tone, rarely sweet and caressing, is frequently consoling and dis-burdening; his words are often slaying even horrid - designed to shock rather than edify."

Jeremiah is called a major prophet. Maybe that means he's especially worth paying attention to. He lived a little more than 600 years before Jesus. Isaiah would be another major prophet. But while Isaiah eagerly and happily embraced God's call by answering, "Here I am, send me,' Jeremiah squirmed and claimed that he was too young and didn't have public speaking skills. But God wouldn't hear  it and replied, "Get yourself ready."

We have to let God be God. Maybe that's why so many people today distance themselves (even bitterly) from God and the hearing of anything having to do with religion: God's going to say, "Get yourself ready," and we'd rather be left alone to do our own thing.

• On  the day of baby's birth God saying, "Get yourself ready."
• On wedding day, "Get yourself ready."
• When we know it's time to do something about the addiction, "Get yourself ready."
• When there's a new person in the class, the office, the carpool, the club, "Get yourself ready."
• When a loved one decides to tell it like it is about my behavior, "Get yourself ready."
• When the priest delivers a challenge to the parish that has nothing to do raising money for the next building project, "Get yourself ready."
• When  I (we) need professional help, "Get yourself ready."

It's said that Jeremiah is the first prophet to call people to an understanding of their personal stance or relationship with God. We might wonder if this caused him trouble as religious leaders might have seen this invitation as a threat to their communal control - read - they were afraid they'd lose money.

All prophets have enemies for their disquieting messages. Prophets demand change. You can't stay stupid, ignorant,  lazy or indifferent around a prophet. Prophets are always calling people away from the lies we tell ourselves.

False worship isn't just putting incense in front of a statue of an animal-God or sacred pole. "One Nation Under Guns" it's now being said. Defending the so-called military complex "come hell or high water,"  caring about the stability of a country only because it protects our own national interests, Political Party over the gospel,  entrusting my own opinions with more listening-reverence than they deserve, quick to resort to power as the answer to every problem, a greater familiarity with my stock portfolio than my bible. This is false worship. 

It's said that perhaps more than any other prophet, Jeremiah felt the depth and magnitude of the work God set for him to accomplish. It's not easy to deliver a message that's unpopular, that's going to cause me to lose customers, votes or a thumbs up. 

God said to Jeremiah, "Aren't my words like fire and a hammer struck against rock?" In other words, "I know how deeply you feel this." But do I feel the depth of God's Word? Even the priests have to ask this of themselves. Archbishop Anthony Bloom said we "shouldn't pray until we feel something." So much for rote religion. I'm thinking of priests who at Communion time look over the heads of the people to see how long the line is, while chanting in a robo-voice, "Body-a-Christ, Body-a-Christ, Body-a-Christ. 

Aren't my words like fire and a hammer against rock?

And then, Jeremiah is sometimes called the Weeping Prophet. No doubt because he is believed to be the author of the Biblical Book of Lamentations - a great weeping over the destruction of God's holy City. Is there any weeping in me as I stand before God? My sins? The horror of the world? All the unnecessary death? The constant resorting to war? The old hatreds that won't go away?

Until about 1965 the priest wore a vestment over his left arm at Mass called a maniple. The word comes from the Latin  for hands-ful. It disappeared because it was thought to have become irrelevant. In the 60's when there were so many changes taking place in the Catholic Church, instead of teaching people the meaning of things, they were just abandoned. 

A maniple was a kind of stylized handkerchief. It meant the priest ought to take a weeping heart to the foot of the cross - the hands of the heart full of suffering-tears for the world in all of its pain and foolish error. In a way we all wear a maniple.

Young Pope John Paul II wearing a maniple

May I deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of weeping and sorrow in order that I may joyfully reap the reward or my labors. (Priest Vesting Prayer)