Brueggemann speaks of three literary voices that spoke to Israel when they were threatened by the Assyrian power. The first is Isaiah. Isaiah offers in most magisterial form an alternative vision of reality. He does not so much address the ethical detail of Judah's life, but rather focuses on the larger issue of compteing political-theological loyalties. Isaiah endlessly reiterates that Judah must trust in Yahweh, who governs history and who will guarantee Judah in the face of imperial threat. We know very little about the tactical ways of prophetic utterance in Israel. What is unmistakable, however, is that the prophet endlessly invites Israel to an alternative imaginative scenario of reality, wherein Assyria is denied domination and Yahweh is shown to be an adequated guarantee of life. Thus in the well-known word play of 7:9, in a bid for loyalty to the world construed around Yahweh, the prophet asserts: "If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all." I am one that counts on the words of the Prophets to help me with my faithful imagination. The words are able to give me a bit more backbone when I know that my knees wobble and I can easily turn around and run away. Having said that, I also know that I do not get any information about "tactical ways of prophetic utterance." At times I long to hear how one is to be loyal to God in the middle of situations that demand action today. As I write this realize the the prophetic word is not an exact battle plan that has everything in place so that we really have no choice about how we are to act. Rather, the prophet seems to lift our eyes so that we will picture faithful to God in our day. That means we must be people who attempt to listen to the story of God's saving power and acts - and what people look like when they follow this God. When we hear words like "stand firm in faith," what does it mean? I'm sure we would hear many different answers to that question. Maybe somewhere in the mix of responses there comes a vision of faithfulness in the situation at hand. Could it be that these prophetic voices are meant to stir up our hearts and expand our vision that we will be a faithful people in the middle of whatever forces attempt to move us and shake us? Connection: More and more it seems as though it is our task to listen - more and more. Lord God of New Life, you are the power that comes upon us to make us faithful within that day we face. Encourage us to turn around and look to you whenever we are being pulled by the powers that threaten us. Amen. |
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