Burning the Scroll

In the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 36, we read that the prophet dictated a scroll to Baruch, his secretary, and told him to read it to the people in the Temple in Jerusalem. The essence of the message was very harsh; the Lord is displeased with the nation and, as a result, our demise at the hands of the Babylonians is only a matter of time. In other words, our chickens are coming home to roost. Baruch read the words of the prophet to the people and the ensuing commotion was, in due course, reported to Jehoiakim, the King, who commanded that the scroll be brought to the palace and read in his presence. As each portion was read, the king cut it off and burned it in a firepot in the courtyard in the presence of his officials, until the entire scroll had been consumed.

Prophets are a troublesome lot. They declare, “This is what the Lord has said!”, to anyone and everyone. They offend the king and the people alike, because they say the things we do not want to hear. This is the ideal of the prophetic voice; it speaks “truth” to power, and is answerable only to God. And those who, for whatever reason, want to hear a different word, distance themselves from the prophet, and the words of the prophet, just as Jehoiakim did in such a dramatic way.

In recent weeks we have seen this process in action. For years Barack Obama has sat under the and teaching of a prophetic preacher, Jeremiah Wright. Of course they have had their differences – no thoughtful person agrees with anyone all the time – but they have been close enough that Wright conducted Obama’s wedding, baptized his children, and even provide the title for his second book, The Audacity of Hope. Yet, when the people (the media) became offended by the strident declarations of this “Man of God”, Obama distanced himself from his pastor, insisted that he too was offended, and ultimately disowned his pastor, declaring that if he becomes President he will not seek any counsel from Jeremiah Wright. I understand why Obama has done this. One cannot get elected if he offends his constituency, or is associated with people who do. But it’s disappointing nonetheless.

Monarchs, presidents, prime ministers, and nations need the counsel of prophetic voices. When first encountered the truth is often offensive, or at least inconvenient, so they must learn to listen to things they don’t want to hear. And if they don’t receive the counsel of the prophets they become vulnerable to the self serving counsel of those who only seek to please them. These are the “false prophets” the Bible calls the “ticklers of ears”, and that road leads to disaster.

Think of the prophetic voices of history: Saint Francis and Martin Luther for church reform; William Wilberforce and John Newton (Amazing Grace) for the abolition of slavery; Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Gandhi for the civil wrights movement. We applaud these voices now, but they were despised and rejected in their day.

It would be comforting to think that the person in the White House is receiving some prophetic counsel, but I guess you have to get elected. And, as we all know, democracy would be the perfect form of government if it weren’t for the elections.