A prophet's job is to speak the truth to those who are in power. All is well when the truth you are speaking coincides with the interests of those in power. When the truth you hold confronts the practices and attitudes of those in power, then you better duck.
No one wants to hear that their behavior is inappropriate, arrogant, greedy, nasty, oppressive. No one. You didn't like it when your mother told you to 'straighten up' nor when a teacher called you on some behavior. Consider our tendency as teens to 'mouth off' (however you might define that) and the sting of being called on our disrespect.
So we are all familiar with the emotional experience of being called out by another. Therefore when we look at a story where a prophet challenges a king because the king is acting poorly, we can understand how the king might feel.
But few of us have ever had the power to silence the speaker - destroying both message and messenger. For most of us the closest we come to that experience of power is in our relationships with our children. With only a little imagination we can take the role of the mis-behaving king while our children speak the uncomfortable truth to us. Not all of us have reacted kindly.
That is what makes the prophet's calling so dangerous. A prophet (that is, one who speaks the mind of God) is only called in when there is bad news to report - bad news that will leave folks feeling shamed, angry, embarrassed. And who knows what the king will do next?
This Sunday we have the prophet Amos going head to head with King Jeroboam and his chief counsel, Amaziah, and John the Baptist at the mercy of King Herod. Only Amos gets out of these encounters with his head still in tack.
BTW, we who follow Jesus are called to speak God's truth as well - especially for the sake of the oppressed, specifically to those in power. For Jesus, this led to a cross. Where will it lead us?
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