Sermon 02.16.2025: Prophets Over Profits

What makes for a trustworthy prophet? Let’s learn a spiritually sound way to vet our current-day prophets. We need clarity—and hope—for these troubled times. And, friends, there is hope! 

Scripture

Luke 7:18-35

The disciples of John [the Baptist] reported all these things to [Jesus]. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ’ Jesus* had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus* began to speak to the crowds about John:* ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

  who will prepare your way before you.”

I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ (And all the people who heard this, including the tax-collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,* because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)

‘To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

  we wailed, and you did not weep.”

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’

Sermon

Recently, I asked our Board of Deacons to choose a theme song. [1] So, each of them chose a song to represent their personality, their faith, their tastes. Or lack thereof. You can hear Calvary’s Deacon Playlist on Spotify. 

Our theme songs ranged from “Float On” by Modest Mouse to “The Impossible Dream” to “Morning Is Broken” (somebody always chooses a hymn) to “Hold Me Closer Tiny Dancer” and “Dancing Queen”. Because our Guatemalan son has sold Lou and me on the music Karol G, I chose “Ah, Dios mio, que rico Dios mio!” 

Would you choose a gentle, feel-good song? A power ballad? A sea chanty? A dirge? Some gangster rap? If you had to choose a theme song, what would it be? 

Now you’re thinking I’ve finally lost it, but hear me out. Sometimes the best way to address the madness of the world is with a little madness of our own. Every day, professional fear mongers try to suck the air out of our joy. Their purpose is to scare us into submission, to divide us so that we are more suggestible. And, here’s the sad part, it works. Today is about resisting the siren song of false prophets.

Having a theme song at the ready can render us impervious to their chaos and hate—at least temporarily. Retreating into a theme song can give us a moment to breathe, a touchstone of joy, a reminder of hope. 

Maya Angelou echoed Dr. King when she wrote, “I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.” [2] 

Given recent events, I had to abandon sweet Karol G and up my game with a new theme song. When I realized that my navigation apps now showed the Gulf of America and a vaccine-denier with a dead brain worm was named Secretary of Health, did I despair? Yes. I did. Momentarily. Until this music played from my memory, in my head: a corrective distraction. (Play “Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones.)

Pay attention only to what has meaning, but actively ignore everything divisive and ultimately meaningless. Trust your joy to God’s safekeeping, and we will eventually join our voices to drown out the chorus of hate. Our hope is in the God whose name is Love. 

Am I optimistic? Nope. Optimism is unrealistic right now, but I am hopeful. 

I’m not even all that happy, but I am joyful. We have a joy the world didn’t give us. So the world cannot take it away. 

Happiness is skin deep. Joy goes to the bone. [breath] 

Locate your hope. Get hold of your joy, and do not let go. 

Aesop, Jesus & Oral Traditions 

Instead of reading stories in books, people used to tell stories to one another: the oral tradition. The Bible also came to be written after long periods of oral tradition. 

Today’s gospel is from Luke. Luke knew Jesus personally. Luke told the stories of Jesus to his students. Then, the disciples of Luke wrote down today’s gospel lesson. [3] And in it Jesus quotes Aesop, an ancient Greek slave and storyteller that lived centuries before Jesus. 

I’ve asked Nancy Hall to help me tell you the fable Jesus refers to today. Could you please help, too? You’ll play the part of the fish. As was customary in the oral tradition, I am retelling it in my own words. 

The Fisherwoman and Her Flute 

There once lived a fisherwoman who loved to play the flute. One sunny morning, as she walked by a stream, she noticed a group of fish looking up at her. She had an idea. Since she was an excellent flutist, she decided to play them a tune. She wanted the fish to dance up out of the water and hop into her net. Now, any person who heard her tune could not stop themselves from dancing, but the fish, being fish, just looked at her and wondered, “What’s up? Waaa?” 

She stopped playing and hung her head in disappointment. Her business plan had failed. Poor Nancy! Her sadness turned to frustration and then to desperation. So, she’s took her fishing net, cast it into the water, and pulled up all the fish she could. Her net was now full of flopping fish, soon to be eaten on bagels with cream cheese. “Buahahaha!” she laughed. “Now, you can’t stop dancing, can you! Dance, little fishies!” like a Disney villain. 

Like Grimm’s fairy tales, Aesop’s fables can sometimes get a little weird. So can Jesus’ parables. 

When I was your age, we did a dance called The Monkey. (Demonstrate.) Don’t confuse it with The Pony or Mashed Potatoes. As you leave for Sunday Studio, Nancy and I are going to play some music in the hopes that you and your parents we invite you to dance your way out of the sanctuary. Because dancing is an important way we praise God. 

Ready? (Play “Soul Bossa Nova”by Quincy Jones, and dance!) 

Extra-biblical Reading [4] 

Rivers mark old boundaries. Rivers “make movement possible.” [5] Rivers don’t always flow smoothly in one direction but bend back on themselves, wind around and fall into gorges. Some rivers have been dammed to flood valleys, but their natural flow cannot be interrupted forever. The river always wins. We’ve all come through lots of things we didn’t think we could. Remembering those moments is the beginning of hope. 

Langston Hughes was still a teenager when he wrote the following poem. (No pressure, youth group!) I have invited my neighbor, Iona Lawhorn, to intone his words with her beautiful, musical voice. 

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (1920) by Langston Hughes [6] 

I’ve known rivers: 

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. 

My soul has grown deep like the rivers. 

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. 

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. 

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. 

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I ’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. 

I’ve known rivers: 

Ancient, dusky rivers. 

My soul has grown deep like the rivers. 

Cousin John sends emissaries to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Sorta rude question. Are you for real with all your talk about love and forgiveness, or should we drop you and get another one? 

Well, replies Jesus, at least some people who had blinded minds now see. Those who were stuck-in-place now move around freely. I am handing out free healthcare up in here. And what’s more, the poor are my special friends. They will go to the head of the line. 

Jesus is more than a prophet. The traditional interpretation of this scripture proclaims the power of Jesus: Christ, Anointed One. No one should follow the Empire, nor me or you, not even John the Baptist. True disciples follow Jesus. 

With the empire’s spies in the crowd and the religious authorities taking notes, Jesus says: blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. Some people expect to be offended, and rarely are they disappointed. 

Other translations of this verse read: “Blessed are those who do not stumble because of me.” That’s a nice twist; blessed are those who keep on walking the journey of faith even as I challenge them to grow. 

Jesus’ litany of healings and the Good News he brings to the poor echo the song his mother sang while he was still in utero. She’s on the bulletin cover today. We usually dress her up for Christmas. Sitting by the tree, sipping eggnog, we listen to her prophecy set to the music by Bach or John Rutter. It’s elevated and preserved that way, but it loses oomph. 

If, like me, you are made uncomfortable by today’s bulletin cover, that means God is trying to tell us something. Those are the prophetic words of Mary. 

Let’s be clear about what prophets are. In the Bible, prophets are not fortune tellers. They assess the present and describe what they see happening through the lens of faith. 

All prophets are not equal, even in holy scripture. For example, we rarely refer to the prophecies of Nahum, the minor prophet who had huge issues with women and anger management problems that would send Dr. Phil running. I read Nahum when I need to feel better about my lack of patience. Nahum needed a theme song. 

Who are our trusted prophets today? I distrust the prophets who have never had to work a day in their lives, the people who are in it for their own profit with an “i.” I do not trust the prophets whose lives contradict the Sermon on the Mount and destroy the programs that reflect time-honored feeding, healing, reconciling ministries of Jesus. I don’t trust prophets who can’t show us the receipts or publish the names of the immigrants they have rounded up. I do not trust billionaires who feel no moral responsibility for the poor. 

God entrusted this planet to us as its stewards, not profiteers. The destruction of educational standards, environmental protections and cuts to cancer research cannot be God’s will, and they must not stand. Where is the opposition? Where is the balance? 

Jesus is reconciliation, not division but a giant “welcome home” to very scapegoat, every trans young person, and every sanctuary-seeking immigrant and detainee. There is not favored nation in the kingdom of heaven. 

The partiality God shows is only to the poor.

Jesuit theologian James Martin writes: 

In its simplest terms, the apparent demise of USAID is the result of the world’s riches man ending a program that helps millions of poor people. You don’t need a PhD in moral theology to see why this is an evil. You can just read Jesus parables on the rich and the poor. [7] 

Before the cyber truck arrives to cart me away, let me ask you: to whose tune should we dance? What will be our theme? The journey of faith deserves a soundtrack, but will we recognize the tune? 

Karl Barth was a prophetic 20th century theologian who organized Christians to resist the advance of Hitler and the Nazis. He urged them—and us—to follow Jesus balancing the news in one hand and Good News in the other. Current world events require the corrective tension of the witness, example and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 

We need prophets today who bridge the gaps through which too many fall. And if God will not raise up for us prophets, I pray that God will raise up in us a holy restlessness to get God’s work done, to save people for Jesus’ sake. 

Recounting modern history, writer Ken Sehested sets today’s Affirmation of Faith squarely on the side of hope. 

Did you know that: 

When [the] Chilean military dictator Augustine Pinochet came to power in 1973 (in a coup orchestrated by the [the Nixon administration]). Pinochet forbade [the] use of Mary’s Magnificat as a public prayer because of its [prophecy. God pulls down the mighty from their thrones]. 

During the 1980s, dictatorial rulers in both El Salvador and Guatemala judged Mary’s [prophecy] of God’s special concern for the poor to be so dangerous they banned any public recitation of this text. 

Argentina’s ruling junta banned Mary’s song after the Mothers of the Disappeared displayed its words on placards in the capital plaza. 

During Britain’s rule of the Indian subcontinent, the singing of the Magnificat in church was prohibited because of its incendiary lyrics. So, on the final day of British rule in India, Gandhi, who was not a Christian, requested that this text be read in all places where the British flag was being lowered. [8] 

Let mother Mary assure us that God has our backs. This current cacophony is ultimately meaningless—a flute song calling us to go against God. Don’t dance to that devil music! But. But! But when we hear the pipe of a true and moral prophet, it’s Monkey, Pony and Mashed Potatoes all the way. 

My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,

 and my spirit rejoices in you, my savior.

For you have looked with favor

upon your lowly servant,

and from this day forward

all generations will call me blessed. 

For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your name.

Your mercy reaches from age to age

for those who fear you. 

You have shown strength with your arm;

you have scattered the proud in their conceit;

you have deposed the mighty from their thrones

and raised the lowly to high places.

You have filled the hungry with good things,

while you have sent the rich away empty. 

You have come to the aid of Israel your servant,

mindful of your mercy—

the promise you made to our ancestors—

to Sarah and Abraham

and their descendants forever. 

Cover Photo: “Magnificat” (Luke 1:52-53) by Benjamin Wildflower, benwildflower.com 

1 This “spiritual practice” is inspired by an old TV show, Ally McBeal < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DJbYw19d90>. 

2 < https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7980-i-can-be-changed-by-what-happens-to-me-but> 

3 Around the year 80 CE. 

4 In honor of Black History Month. 

5 < https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-poems-we-think-we-know-the-negro-speaks-of-rivers-by-langston-hughes/> 

6 Recited in worship by Ms. Iona Lawhorn. 

7 < https://x.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1886430404241977807?mx=2> 

8 Ken Sehested, “When a president demands an apology from a pastor who counseled mercy” Prayer & Politiks, accessed online at < https://mailchi.mp/prayerandpolitiks/when-a-president-demands-apology-from-a-pastor-who-counseled-mercy?e=4177a8ba38> January 25, 2025.