Let Us Be Prophets

Courtroom Television

My grandmother loved Judge Wapner. Do you remember that show? It is still on I believe, with a different Judge as ‘The Peoples Court’. Anyhow, I mention that because as I was lazily flipping through channels this morning, I came across a day time court room show and got caught up in it for a bit.

A father had come to court to sue his daughter, who had asked him to cosign on her lease so that she and her two children, five and thirteen, could get an apartment. After three months of living in the apartment the daughter came upon some difficult times, couldn’t pay the bills and so the father’s role as a cosigner kicked in.

He was suing his daughter for something like $2,375. The daughter’s defense was that her father, as a father, should be willing to help out his daughter when she comes upon difficult times, “That is what parents should do,” she cried.

The thing about those shows is that since they are televised there is a dramatic element included. The plaintiff and defendant are allowed, encouraged and probed to share personal information about their lives and relationships. In this particular case it came to light that when the daughter was around thirteen or so her mother passed away. The father is in the navy and was at the time of his wife’s death as well. So the daughter shared that she had never really known her father. He was always gone and when he was there… HE really wasn’t… there.

As the story continued, we found out that even when the father was home, he was abusive and/or drunk, kicking the daughter out of the house over simple arguments. The father said, “Well a child has to learn from their mistakes.” The daughter then shared that at one point she was removed from the house because her father had hit her. And so as the courtroom drama continued all this STUFF, all of these collisions began to surface. So much so that the father, in defending his claims brought to the judge that his daughter makes bad decisions. He claimed that, “that is why we are here. She makes bad decisions. Her husband is in jail. That is proof enough.” From the time that the daughter entered the courtroom she was weeping. It was as if she couldn’t handle being scolded and ridiculed any longer. The father had scorn in his eyes. It was as if he wanted to ‘fix’ her, once and for all.

Prophets

I keep thinking about that bible story when Jesus talks about a prophet having no honor in his or her own town. Now, if you dislike ‘bible stories’, its all good. But the stories, even outside of the Christian perspective are good stories, so try to stick with me for a minute.

In all four of the gospels Jesus says something along the lines of, “Only in his own town, among his relatives and in his own house, is a prophet without honor.” (this quote taken from Mark 6).

I know how this quote is generally used, but a couple of weeks ago, I went to speak at my old high school and was FREAKING out about it. My freak out led me to meditating, which led me to this verse. I started thinking that it is not only about how the family, relatives, friends, etc see the ‘prophet’ but also how the ‘prophet’ sees him or her self. The story is also about insecurity. So one of the many ways of reading this story, if you will allow me to put it into my own words, is to say, “A prophet is without honor when they do not remember that they are good, that they have something to say, that they have a story, a perspective, a gift, something to offer.” This insecurity that the prophet faces is heightened when the family and relatives and crowds support that insecurity through jerky behaviors. But jerky behavior is heightened when insecurity supports jerky behavior.

So our father and daughter are in this courtroom and lets say that they are both prophets. They both come into this room to share what is on their hearts.

Do you know the story of Jonah? Jonah is a prophet but he displays something about prophets that not many other Jewish prophets display. In the Jewish and Christian traditions we don’t get a lot of Jonah behavior presented to us. One of the things that the Jonah story shows us is that a prophet, among their many other duties has the responsibility of acknowledging their wrong. A prophet is someone then, who shares truth and willingly humbles themselves when they have acted a fool, lied, stolen, lusted, betrayed, slandered, etc, etc, etc.

So two prophets are in a courtroom. A family is torn apart. The father’s actions have effected the daughter’s actions. The daughter’s actions have effected the father’s actions. The daughter has, as the drama illustrated sought out men who treat her poorly, she has made poor decisions, and she has hung on to hurt and the need to make her father either love her or completely abandon her. The father is angry, he is sad, he is wanting to correct the person his daughter has become.

The unknown

The problem with this courtroom saga is that there is a whole bunch that we do not know. We do not know the relationship before the mother passed away. We do not know the father’s relationship with the mother. Was he at one time gentle and less distant? Was the daughter always careless, or did the mother’s death cause a reaction in the father and daughter? Did they simply just disregard how the other worked through grief? There are many questions, because much is unknown.

We do not know. The same is true in many of our dealings with one another. I was just driving down the road this morning and some lady looked over and gave me a nasty look, cut me off and stuck her middle finger out of the window. At first I was pissed! But then I realized, I have no idea why she is so angry with me, a stranger. I could have made a traffic error that I was unaware of. Her mother could have just passed away. She could be late for work. She could have found out that she has cancer. I don’t know.

The Known

Many of our collisions and tensions with other human beings however are much more similar to the courtroom. A lot of the time we get to listen to the claims of the other person. A lot of the time we have the opportunity to enter as prophets. We have the opportunity to enter with a truth on our hearts and a willingness to admit where we have faulted.

Much of the time we can ask, “why did you flip me the bird?” and to admit, ‘it really upset my universe. I am sorry if I did something wrong.”

The father and the daughter on this courtroom television show left planning on never speaking to each other again. The father said, “I’ve given her more than enough chances.” The daughter said, “My father has always loved money and himself more than me.”

I hated watching this show. I hated it because I have played the role of the father and the daughter so many stinking times. I have been the most calloused person alive. I have been the most wounded person alive. I have sought to ‘teach a lesson’. I have sought to deliver revenge. But almost every time, it ended just like the show. Severed relationship. Hurt and angry people.

What is so crazy about it is that even years later, and maybe you can relate, I find myself bitching about one of the said, severed relationships. It is as if I believe in my heart that I can fix it by bitching about it.

This is just not true. I know this old man who always says, “My parents did nothing for me. They didn’t help me get my start and they left nothing to me when they died.” I always want to ask him why he tells that story over and over again. One day, he added to his story saying, “So when I die, I’m not leaving the kids anything cause no one did anything for me.”

By playing his bitterness over and over in his mind, it took control of his heart and so he has decided to pass on from generation to generation his hurt and anger. His bitching has spread bitching. No one has learned anything from his continuous recitation of how his parents screwed him.

Two Prophets

Two prophets were in a courtroom and they had a decision to make. They could battle to the death so one could be right and one could be wrong. In being right they could receive a some of money and the knowledge that their prophecy was received. Maybe this is necessary some times?

They had another option though. They could also address one another with their individual perspectives. They could leave out the bull crap that they added to their perspectives to assist the truth that once existed and replace it with sincere apology. They could say, “I’m not even aware of all the ways that I have hurt you… dad… mom… son… daughter… neighbor… friend… enemy… I’m so unaware and I am sorry for being unaware.” They could receive this apology from one another; maybe they could receive it seventy times seven times, over and over again.

Life doesn’t always give us the opportunity to have two prophets leave the courtroom. But I am starting to think that there is much more opportunity for two prophets than there is for one prophet and one broken soul.

I believe that we are good people. I believe that we can look and see when two prophets are perfectly acceptable. But we have to enter into life as prophets to do so. Let us leave our insecurities behind. Let us not support insecurity with jerkiness. Let us walk with truth. Let us willingly admit our wrongs. Let us carefully discern when we have added to truth, making it nothing more than a lie. Let us be prophets.