Brian McLaren emphasizes knowing and following Jesus as a prophet:
Many Christians have tried to understand Jesus primarily through his spiritual descendants by asking, “What did Paul say about Jesus? What did Augustine say about Jesus? What did John Calvin or John Wesley say about Jesus?” If we only try to understand Jesus through what people said after his lifetime, we will miss how much more we could understand about Jesus by seeing him in the context of those who came before him—in the story of his ancestors and his spiritual lineage. Jesus waits to be rediscovered in the context of his history and story. Growing up as a Jew, Jesus enters the ancestral lineage of the patriarchs and matriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel. But Jesus also enters through a spiritual lineage of prophets and prophetesses beginning with Moses, the first biblical prophet….
He begins his public ministry with a prophetic proclamation [see Luke 4:14–30]. He acts like a prophet by doing all kinds of bizarre public demonstrations. Like the prophets, Jesus offers warnings and promises, blessings and woes. He also loves to quote prophets, especially Isaiah and Hosea….
Unfortunately, this rich prophetic understanding of Jesus became minimized in the Christian tradition. Instead, we talked almost exclusively about Jesus as the Son of God, … the savior from original sin, and the sacrificial lamb. We minimized his work and life as a prophet. We are free to understand Jesus as more than a prophet, but we should never understand him as less. His prophetic tradition should form the core and the baseline of our understanding of Jesus.
If we take Jesus seriously as a prophet, we take his incarnation seriously, because Jesus comes into a particular historical situation. As part of a society, he had to grapple with politics and economics. The crucifixion makes sense because prophets’ lives don’t usually end well. Very few have a comfortable retirement. His prophetic identity also requires us to take the story of the resurrection seriously as a prophetic demonstration and affirmation that the work of the prophet must continue even after he is executed and buried.
If we let Jesus as prophet be eclipsed by other understandings, Jesus is reduced, and so are we. Jesus wants his followers to become like him…. He says, “My movement is a prophetic movement. If you join my movement, you’re in that line of work, including its hazards.”
If we take Jesus seriously as prophet, it will help us in our multi-faith conversations because other religions take the role of prophet seriously. Muslims love and revere Jesus as a prophet. When we think about the white patriarchy and white supremacy that are so deeply embedded in many forms of Christianity, we realize that the revolutionary contributions of Black, eco, feminist, womanist, and liberation theologies take Jesus’ life and work as a prophet more seriously. When we can reclaim the understanding of Jesus as prophet and let that revolutionize us, we can rediscover prophets in today’s world.
Reference:
Brian McLaren, “Jesus as Prophet,” ONEING 12, no. 2, The Path of the Prophet (2024): 33, 36, 37–38. Available in print and PDF download.
Image credit and inspiration: Elijah Hiett, untitled (detail), 2017, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. As students of Jesus the prophet, we touch the soil of our time, recognizing suffering not in isolation but as a shared cry, and through His incarnation we are called to ponder, to speak, and to choose the path that heals.
Story from Our Community:
As I read the daily meditation by Valarie Kaur, I thought of John 14:2 where Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus then says that he is “the Way.” I believe many religions practice Jesus’ “way”—loving God as they see God and loving their neighbor as themselves. There is a place for all of us.
—Bill W.
