Bible Study:
Is There a Prophet for Our Time?Bible Study:
Is There a Prophet for Our Time?by J. ANN CRAIG
Editor’s note: This is the last of four Bible studies on Scriptures that will be the focus during United Methodist Women’s Assembly May 14-17 in Orlando, Fla.
In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Acts 2:17
One verse, that’s all -- one verse that can take us on a journey full of hope and questions through Scripture and time.
We begin in Jerusalem. Jesus has told his disciples to wait there for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It comes upon them as flames and rushing wind, and they burst forth in many languages talking of God’s deeds of power.
Some think they are drunk, but Peter begins to preach:
"...these are not drunk...this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams (Acts 2:15-17.)
Joel’s prophecy
The Acts passage leads us to Joel, one of the minor prophets. The book of Joel is just three chapters, so take a few minutes to read it.
Peter’s quote is from Joel 2:28-32. Joel’s next words are the beginning of Chapter 3:
For then, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations...and enter into judgment with them...because...they have divided my land, and cast lots for my people, and traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it down.
Joel goes on to say the invaders will be cursed with war and slavery. God’s revenge will come in the same form of harm done to the Jews. Joel shockingly reverses Isaiah 2:4 by exhorting the people of Jerusalem and Judah to beat your plowshares into swords...
In the end Judah and Jerusalem will be blessed:
In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the stream beds of Judah shall flow with water (Joel 3:18).
Joel closes with a promise:
But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations. I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty, for the Lord dwells in Zion (Joel 3:20-21).
Joel is interested in the restoration of the nation. The northern and southern kingdoms of Jerusalem and Judah had fallen to invaders, Jewish leaders had been driven into exile, and some Jews had been sold into slavery to the Greeks (Joel 3:6). To a people whose religious and national identity was based on having been delivered from slavery by God, this was the worst possible fate.
So, when Peter quotes Joel, he evokes the entire book of Joel, which was familiar to his audience -- devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5). For these Jews, the term Greek still referred to occupiers of Jerusalem. Greek culture dominated the Roman Empire, which was oppressing the Jews.
By quoting Joel, Peter takes a swing at the oppressive rule of the Romans and inspires the Jews to be part of God’s new kingdom of freedom and love.
Redefining Messiah
But how literal is the text? Did this first sermon of the Pentecost call to mind Joel’s beat your plowshares into swords? Was this a call to arms to restore Jerusalem?
Although Christians over the centuries have redefined Messiah to mean a spiritual savior rather than a national savior, the devout Jews who heard the message of Peter understood Messiah to be the one who would restore the throne of David and the temple in Jerusalem. Peter was asking these Jews to believe the kingdom was at hand.
The proof of Jesus as the Messiah was in the resurrection. The promise of Jesus was the promise of a nation.
This is a much more troubling text than one would expect. The Pentecost story, where the walls of language are broken down and the Spirit flows inclusively on male and female, old and young, slave and free, is inspiring. But the question remains: For what purpose does the Spirit flow? Is it to begin a revolution against the Romans as the nationalistic character of Joel suggests?
We don’t have to read much further in the book of Acts to see how the early Christians lived in response to this seemingly militaristic rallying call. Thousands were being baptized daily:
All who believed...had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.... They broke bread...with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people (Acts 2:44-47).
They did not wage war. They took on the task of living their belief that the kingdom was at hand. There was no need for riches in the coming realm. Kindness and justice were the currency of the kingdom.
Who could object to kindness and justice?
Unfortunately, many people are threatened by kindness and justice, then and now. Ironically, this early Jesus movement seemed as rebellious to the authorities as did Jesus’ ministry. Common holdings and equal treatment of all people broke religious rules of purity related to women, the sick and the outcast.
The Roman political structure didn’t trust any of the Jews, whether followers of Jesus or not, because they refused to bow to Roman gods. This was viewed as treason. Any new religious movement was dealt with as a potential insurrection.
Peter preached Jesus, which was a threat to abusive power. Peter’s vision was Jesus’ vision -- a world where everyone participated in a kingdom that was beyond political oppression, beyond keeping women silent, beyond ignoring the young and the old. Here was a vision where slaves would be restored to a life on a mountain flowing with milk, sweet wine and clean water.
But not everyone wants a fair and equal world where everyone receives what they need -- and more than that, where everyone gives all they have and only receives back what they need.
Today, attempts to live the values of the early Christians in Acts are attacked as idealistic, utopian, radical, even communist. Some of the harshest critics of such attempts are Christians.
Programs and theology that promote equality between women and men are written off as radical feminism. Economic and social changes, which would distribute wealth in a more egalitarian way, are suspect as socialistic. There is tremendous anxiety that poor people will get something for nothing. All the while, wealthy people ignore the consistent call to the rich by Jesus to give up their wealth.
Most of us have given up the vision of the first followers of Jesus. We beat our plowshares into swords to protect our wealth. We act like the kingdom of God has little to do with this world. We accept welfare changes that move more and more children into the ranks of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. We believe injustice is an inevitable by-product of human sin.
Every prophet call us to repentance because we have lost faith. They cry out in our streets:
J. Ann Craig is executive secretary for spiritual and theological development for the Women's Division.