Sermon for 2005 December 4, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet

Bible readings: 1 Kings 22:1-28, Romans 15:4-13

A neighbour said "Mr Bloggs was a quiet sort of guy, friendly enough, he kept himself to himself – a bit of a loner really. I think he spent a lot of time at his computer. None of us could believe that he could just get a gun and do that terrible thing".

That could have been a news item – in fact I made it up, to reflect our society’s view of the loner. Which is a bit schizophrenic in the popular meaning of the term. On the one hand we have a rampant culture of the individual. Personal choice is everything. Personal space, personal possessions, personal computers, more and more people living alone. We have a basic respect for someone who keeps himself to himself, someone who doesn’t poke her nose into other people’s business. But on the other hand we are not surprised when we learn that the perpetrator of some awful crime turns out to be a loner; he didn’t have the checks and balances that family and friends could bring. So we end up being a bit suspicious of anyone who is a bit odd, a bit different, anyone who doesn’t fit in with the mainstream.

Prophets and prophecy. A big theme of Advent. The prophets of the Old Testament certainly didn’t fit in with the mainstream. Well, almost true. It depends on what sort of prophet you were. Our Old Testament reading gives us a vivid comparison between two kinds of prophets and two kinds of prophecy. If we think of prophets we tend to think of the ones who have books to their name. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos. We might also think of Elijah, but not many would come up with the name of Micaiah (not to be confused with Micah). But Micaiah is the hero of our story. I’ll briefly set the scene. We’re at about 850 BC. The Promised Land has become two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, but at this point in history they are co-operating with each other. We’ve got two kings in the story: Ahab, king of Israel, up north, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, down south. Ahab had had an agreement with Benhadad, king of Syria.

[Actually they had trouble drawing up the agreement. There was a dispute about grammar: Where Ahab had had "had had", Benhadad had had "had". Had Benhadad had "had had" where Ahab had had "had had" there perhaps wouldn’t have been any misunderstanding later.]

Anyway, the agreement had been to cede the city of Ramoth Gilead to Benhadad on the understanding that he would give it back. (There will be a short test on all this after the service).

But Benhadad wasn’t British and this wasn’t Hong Kong! He didn’t give it back. So our two kings were trying to decide whether to go in and take back this city. Ahab seems to be the powerful one who is keen, Jehoshaphat the weaker one but who is urging some caution. (I could try to draw a parallel here [Bush & Blair] but it might be dangerous!) Jehoshaphat says "I’m with you, but first let us seek the counsel of the Lord". And this is where we are introduced to Ahab’s prophets. There are 400 of them! Ahab asks them what he should do and they tell him what he wants to hear. They are in the tradition of ecstatic prophecy. They even put on a show for the two kings, prancing about with iron horns saying "with these you will gore the Syrians".

Jehoshaphat, the more thoughtful one, is clearly not impressed and he says "is there not a prophet of the Lord we could ask?". "Well, there is Micaiah, but he never prophesies anything good about me!" Well, what an admission. Perhaps he realizes how implausible the theatrical display of his band of yes-men has been so he agrees to listen to Micaiah. Who comes in and in a mocking tone repeats the same message, but he’s so obviously joking that Ahab says "OK, but what is your real message?" And so Micaiah gives his real prophecy. He almost literally sticks his neck out. First he says that the war will fail and that Israel will be left without a leader. Secondly he says that a lying spirit has been put into the mouths of the 400 prophets. He really doesn’t pull his punches. He doesn’t respectfully suggest an alternative. He says he is right and the 400 are wrong. Scary, eh? The ultimate lone voice. Needless to say he gets thrown into prison, the king says "I knew he wouldn’t say anything good about me." If you press the interactive button on your Bible when you go home you can read what happened next. It’s not hard to guess.

Micaiah paved the way for a kind of prophecy that became very, very important for the history of God’s people. The lone voice, the thorn in the side, challenging the powers that be, speaking of justice for the poor and the oppressed, speaking of a saviour who would come, speaking of God’s love for the Gentiles. These are the messages of Advent and they came from lone, troubling, disturbing voices from awkward men in the mould of Micaiah.

I’d like to consider two questions that this story leaves for us. The first question is: Suppose we are Ahab: How should we respond to the lone voice in our midst? In our church, maybe? What should we do about the person who says what we don’t want to hear, but niggles away at our complacency?

• The first is, surprisingly maybe: be suspicious. We are a community. Unity is God’s will for us. The kings of Israel and Judah were right to look for consensus. So should we be. The prophet does not expect to be heard without question. Jesus said that no prophet is respected among his own people.
• The second is: listen, or – perhaps better – let the message through. Ahab did at least listen to what Micaiah had to say, but the problem was he allowed his voice to be drowned out by packing the hall with yes-men – so how could he have hoped to hear the truth clearly?
• The third is: have the courage to act on the unpopular message. Which of course begs the question: how do you know if it’s the truth? How do you overcome that rightful, prudent suspicion and decide for yourself that the prophet is right? That would be a whole ‘nother sermon, but there are a couple of pointers from Micaiah:
• Jehoshaphat genuinely wanted to seek guidance from a prophet of the Lord. That’s a start.
• Even Ahab had a hunch that Micaiah might be right, which is why he made such a fuss about Micaiah never saying anything nice about him. You can picture Ahab almost knowing that Micaiah was right; the prophet was speaking to his heart; the king just didn’t have the courage to act.
• And look for integrity. Ahab should have got suspicious when the 400 prophets started to go over the top – when they started to act out how they would gore the enemy. Micaiah risked and lost his freedom to be able to say what he had to say, what the Lord told him to say.
  

So when we hear prophetic words, be suspicious, listen, and if what you hear is genuinely sought, resonates deep in your heart and is spoken with integrity, have the courage to act even if hundreds are trying to drown out the truth with platitudes.

And finally, what if God is asking you or me to be that lone voice, to speak against the crowd? It could be as a Christian in a secular setting, or it could even be within the church. Well, it’s the really other sides of those same coins we’ve just set out:

• Don’t expect a hero’s welcome. That’s the whole point. Unpalatable truths leave a nasty taste.
• Speak clearly (although, like Micaiah, don’t be afraid of a little irony). Speak as though you intend people to listen to you. A popular image of the lone prophet is that he or she rants. I don’t think Micaiah ranted. Usually we do not have to rant.
• And speak honestly, with integrity, from heart to heart, as a friend. A true friend will tell us what we might not want to hear, will get us to face up to uncomfortable situations. A prophet may condemn by speaking the truth, but he or she does not have to be condemnatory, they can speak as a friend. Remember that God prepares the hearts of people to hear the truth. It may be hard to take but is probably not surprising. God does not call prophets to throw curveballs any more than to look into crystal balls. He calls prophets in every age to bear witness to ancient truth for the time. He calls prophets in our age to bear witness to ancient truth for today.

Is there a prophet in the house?