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Growing up in Birmingham, I spent quite a bit of time downtown. I went to school there. I went to church there. As with many downtowns, there were many people with signs. Some of these were about religion, and some of those were even prophetic. Speaking of these kind of signs might conjure pictures from newspaper comics with street preachers raising signs saying “The End is Neigh”, or words to that affect.
However, the only person I remember with a sign on the street corner was a man who always had a smile on his face. His sign said “Jesus Saves”.
We often think of Prophecy as pertaining to the future. Prophecy also often seems to be all about doom and gloom. Prophecy, instead, is about the present. It tells us how we are living now as we have an eye to the road ahead.
Take our reading from Luke. Jesus tells the Parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus suffers in this world and receives joy after death. The rich man lives lavishly and endures great torment when his life is over.
Though there is a great chasm between them, the rich man cries out to Abraham, asking that Lazarus be sent to his family to warn them so they will change their ways and not suffer his same fate. Abraham tells the rich man that they have voices to listen to already: “Moses and the Prophets”. Abraham also informs him that even if the dead were raised, people would not listen, a pointed reminder of how Jesus’ Resurrection failed to convince many of the truth.
This Parable is not meant as a harsh reminder of coming doom and gloom. It is no mere condemnation. Jesus’ words were meant as a warning. It was a warning to the leaders of the Pharisees who, as we are told in the passage between our reading from last week and our one today, were “lovers of money”. Jesus’ focus is not on the future, but instead He is providing the opportunity for the leaders of the Pharisees to repent and change their ways, if only they will listen.
Jesus isn’t the only one who provided a warning and a way out. As we have seen these past several weeks, the Prophet Jeremiah commented on the doings of his fellow Israelites, specifically the Judaeans, in his time. He told them what would happen if they did not change their ways. He provided a glimpse of what was to come in hopes that the people would turn back to God.
As we see in our reading from Jeremiah today, the Babylonians are now at the doorsteps of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The time for repentance is done. Suffering will be the way forward for the last remnants of Israel as they succumb to the power of the greatest empire in their time, all because they would not repent and return to the Lord.
Yet the message God provides through Jeremiah at this time is one of hope. Though everything seems to be crumbling around them, God calls on Jeremiah to buy a plot of land. This isn’t the wise or prudent thing. With the Babylonians at the gates, this is not the time to be buying land. Yet Jeremiah does so and even has it contained in a jar for safe-keeping.
Jeremiah’s action is one of hope. The message God presents through him is that one day the Israelites will return to their land. One day this deed Jeremiah has bought will be good. It will take about 70 years, as we know from history, yet God’s Chosen People will be allowed to return to the land God has given them.
The message of Prophecy is not about the Future. It is about the Now. Prophecy reminds us how our current living will effect us in the time to come. Prophecy offers us the chance to change, only if we will listen.
Yet if we don’t, there is still hope. 1 Timothy reminds us that “we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it.” We are owed nothing by God. We have no “right” or claim to anything.
As a friend and colleague once said, “the economy of God isn’t fair, and that’s a good thing for us.” Though we are owed nothing, God gives us everything. Though we cannot cross chasm between Paradise and Hades, God crosses it for us. Though we do not deserve it for all our failures to listen, Jesus still saves.
Out of gratitude for that action, take the time to open your ears. Hear what it is that God has to say to you now. The word of Prophecy, even today, is there to help us to live how we are supposed to, if we will only listen. The word of Prophecy reminds us of Jesus’ love for us, and it calls us to show our gratitude by renewing ourselves to be better people and live into new and proper actions in the world.