The Failure of the Prophets

It amazes me that Christians call upon and imitate Israel’s prophetic tradition in the pursuit of social justice and reform. Because the most outstanding characteristic of Israel’s prophets is that they were failures at creating social justice and reform. Despite centuries (particularly the 8th century) of their witness before kings and commoners the nation of Israel ended in failure and exile.

And when I say failure I mean that God’s experiment begun at Sinai came to an unsuccessful end and was never revived. The years from the Macabees through the Herods and ending with the Bar Khokba revolt ended up being the nails in the coffin. Yet they did spawn something unexpected, brilliant, and new from God’s hand: The Talmud and Rabbinic Judaism. As Christians we might call that a resurrection, albeit in a very different kind of body. But we have our own resurrection from out of the ruins of Israel to attend to, and we and the Jews must somehow learn to value one another as co-creations of the one God we share. 

So why go back to the prophets? Because although they failed as social reformers, they laid the groundwork for a Christian vision of God’s Reign. They are theologically vital to the Christian faith. But as strategists for social change they remain a terrible example. 

And that is relevant today because at least some of us really want to see social change that leads to a more just and equitable society within and beyond the church. But to find the way forward we need to quit imitating failure. And that, by the way, means not only the failures of 2800 years ago but those of the last decades as well. 

I think that part of the attraction to the prophets of Israel is deep in the American Protestant ethos, at least in the revival traditions like Methodism. It is our sense that failure is inevitable. Sin is ubiquitous and until Christ returns the ruler of the world is Satan. So really the only option is to thunder against the forces of evil, demand conversion, engage in communal breast-beating and repentance, and then gladly die a martyr. It doesn’t get you justice but at least you can say you followed in the footsteps of Jeremiah and Jesus. Which is psychologically satisfying but kind of worthless for those who continue to suffer from injustice.

Another attraction for Methodists in particular is that it allows us to demand instant sanctification and perfection in this life. Wasn’t that what Wesley believed? The Wesleyan prophet won’t rest if United Methodists and United Methodist congregations have done anything other than fully embrace his or her understanding of justice. Anything less is a failure to be sanctified and is thus compromising with evil. In the land of Methodist prophets there is no “going on to perfection.” There is only “be perfect” or “go to hell.” 

Which doesn’t work. And hasn’t worked. It may be the reason that for 50 years UM prophets of justice have squared off against orthodox prophets of the true faith and both have managed to lose every battle, leaving the church pretty much like a battlefield; strewn with destruction and no victory in sight. 

Yet I think that there is an alternative to the exile, imposed or self-imposed, that Israel suffered. 

Its called politics. Its the way you actually accomplish things that make the church and the world better places for everyone to live. Politics means finding allies in the places where agreement is possible rather than condemning everyone who doesn’t buy into every item on your agenda. Politics means forgoing victory today on the promise of achieving your aim in the future. And politics demands that when you do win you don’t spike the ball in your opponents end zone, or more often their faces. 

But most of all politics means abandoning the revivalist’s hopelessness about human nature and evil in the world, and the perfectionists absurd belief that humans can miraculously turn on whatever dime is currently being labeled justice or orthodoxy. It means embracing the messy complexity of actual social groups and the ways they manage to stay in relationship until apparently contradictory visions of God’s Reign finally come into focus. 

Which may only be when Christ returns - so a final requirement? A willingness to see in a mirror dimly and not accuse everyone else of turning out the light.