Surprising prophets: a reflection for Day 6 of Lent


“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11.29)

“If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11.13)

 

     Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.  As chapter 11 of his Gospel opens, Luke, as he often does, shows Jesus at prayer (11.1; cf. 6.12; 9.28).  The disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Jesus proceeds to give them the “Lord’s Prayer” (11.2-4; cf. Mt. 6.9-13).  Jesus then continues, exhorting the disciples to be persistent as they pray – ask, seek, knock – in order to receive…the Holy Spirit (11.5-13)!  It is striking that Jesus speaks of the Spirit as being the “objective” of the disciples’ prayer-life.  However, in the context of Luke-Acts, it makes perfect sense.  Taken as a whole, Luke’s 2-volume work is the story of how the Creator-God brought his saving-purpose to a focal point through his people Israel (and finally, through the Messiah), and how that same purpose continues to “the ends of the earth” through Spirit-filled women and men – the renewed people of God which now includes Gentiles – who are empowered to speak “the word” of the gospel to the waiting world.

     Word & Spirit.  In other words, one of the principal results of God’s saving action in Christ and the Spirit is to “anoint” each and every member of the people of God to be a prophet (Ac. 2.14-21; cf. Joel 2.28-32).  Simply put, a prophet speaks the word of God, a prophet is a spokesperson for the Creator.  In the opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel, several women and men are “filled with the Spirit” and proclaim oracles of praise (Lk. 1.39-55, 67-79; 2.25-38).  The word of God “came” to John the Baptist in the desert, demonstrating his prophetic vocation (Lk. 3.2).  Jesus is filled with the Spirit at his baptism (3.21-22), declares that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy about the Spirit-anointed messenger of freedom (Lk. 4.16-19; cf. Is. 61.1-2) and speaks “the word” to the people of Galilee (Lk. 5.1).  The narrative of Luke’s Gospel is saturated with the Holy Spirit, who empowers women and men to proclaim the word of God, i.e. the message of the kingdom.  This is the story, Luke is telling us, of how the Creator becomes king of his creation, and how he fills all kinds of people – priests, elderly women, young women, elderly men, prophets, and the Messiah himself – with his Spirit so they can proclaim the “good news” of what God is doing and invite people to participate in God’s saving-purpose (cf. Lk. 1.2).  This dynamic continues in the book of The Acts of the Apostles, as “the word continued to advance and gain adherents” as God continued to speak through the disciples, who had become prophets of the gospel of Jesus’ lordship over the entire world (cf. Ac. 6.7; 12.24).

     All this to say that when Jesus encourages the disciples to keep on praying until they receive the Holy Spirit, he is telling them to ask for the power necessary to speak the word of God, to preach the gospel, to be prophets.  In Luke-Acts, the Creator (and the Messiah: Ac. 2.32-33) is pouring out his Spirit onto each and every member of his people so they can proclaim his word.  What are we praying for?  Are we asking, searching, and knocking on the door of heaven in order to be filled (again) with the power of the Holy Spirit?  Do we ardently desire to be part of God’s saving purpose for his world?  May it be so.

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