False prophets

Clare L. Hickman

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale

Aug 17, 2025—Proper 15C

Jeremiah ; Luke 12:49-56   

          “’You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?’" (Lk 12: 56)

Because the weather is easy, right? There are forecasts; there are apps; there are even still professionals standing in front of huge animated weather charts on the television. And even without all that, you’ve lived long enough in the Midwest to know that if you look out and see that particular color green in the sky, along with an eerie stillness in the air, that it’s time to head for the basement.

          Then again, most of the time, the tornado doesn’t hit your town. And on any given day, the forecast on my weather app is at least a few degrees and 20% chance of rain different than on my friend’s Android.

          Maybe they were better at it in the first century. But we feel uncertain, even when it comes to interpreting the weather signs, let alone the signs of the times. The best we can do, when it comes to the weather, is decide which forecast we’re going to plan that picnic around. And sometimes we pick the one we like the best. And sometimes we presume the app we’ve decided to trust (for whatever reason) is right.

          Turns out, that’s mostly what we do when it comes to interpreting the signs of the times, as well. We choose to trust the people who are telling us what we want to hear. And/or, we trust the people we’ve already decided to trust, no matter what.

          You’ve perhaps run into studies in which the participants’ support for a piece of proposed legislation is strongly influenced by which party they’re told brought it forward. That it could be essentially the same legislation, but if they were told it was written by their party, they would have a different reaction.

          Which tracks with my own experience, if I’m being honest: what I’ve seen in myself and what I’ve noticed in others. And look, we have to make decisions about whose words and actions to trust. And even if we take time to observe and base that trust on concrete, significant things, we can’t keep up that level of attention forever. So the trust … extends.

           Which again, is almost unavoidable. But the danger arises, when those in whom such a trust has been placed lose sight of the awesome responsibility that it carries.

          This is the danger that puts such fire in Jesus’ words, as he and his followers march toward Jerusalem, into his confrontation with the political and religious powers that be, those he condemns for the ways in which they fail to care for the well-being of the people. Instead, they care only for their own status, their own wealth, their own comfort and security.

          And it is the same danger that God roared through the prophet Jeremiah, 600 years before, about “the prophets … who prophesy lies in [God’s] name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’” (Jer 23:25). Prophets who fill the people with false hopes,  speaking visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. Promising peace to those who dishonor God; saying to those “who follow the stubbornness of their hearts … ‘No harm will come to you.’” (Jer 23:16-17).

          In other words, false prophets who tell people what they want to hear. Royal prophets who curry favor rather than bring the challenge of God’s word; who flatter the kings and leaders, rather than call them back to the law and dream of God.

          Through Jeremiah, God rebukes these royal prophets, rebukes the kings, rebukes the temple priests, who have all used the positions entrusted to them for their own advantage. God likens them to straw, of no nutritional value. Because their words and actions allow the people to starve while they grow fat. And in this, they turn away from the teaching of Torah, turn away from God.

          Beware such corrupt leaders, who use their position to enrich themselves. And beware the false prophets who tell them they’re wonderful and beloved by God.

          As it turns out, there are ways to recognize a false prophet. There are ways to read the signs of the times, ways to test whether we have placed our trust wisely.

          A false prophet’s words increase their own comfort and status. They cozy up to those who have the most power.

          A false prophet tells you what you want to hear. Leaves you where you are. Does not call you to change, or call you to action.

          A false prophet reinforces the current power structure.

          Whereas a true prophet challenges and calls the people (especially the leaders) to repentance. Calls them to a deeper commitment to the ways of God, a more faithful attendance to the well-being of the entire people. As such, a true prophet risks anger and pushback. They know they are not offering a false peace, but are instead declaring the division that exists between the ways of God’s kingdom and the ways of the world, between the nourishment of lovingkindness, and the emptiness of greed and violence.

          As such, a true prophet offers wheat rather than straw. Feeds the soul by calling us out of vain self-indulgence and back into a life centered in God. Which we can recognize by such fruit as generosity, compassion, sacrifice, mercy, joy.

There are so many false prophets in this world.  Reinforcing the status quo against the radical reversals of the kingdom of God. Whispering lies about the measure of success, the redemptive power of violence, the centrality and status of possessions. Telling you who you should be and who you are forbidden to be.

          Some of these lies are so clearly an attack on our person, that we can easily ignore them. But some are more seductive, with their promises of earthly comforts, their insistence that we do not need to change. False prophets, on the face of them, can be very appealing.

          Beneath the shiny surface, however, there is a crumbling foundation. In an individual’s life and on a societal level, the messages of false prophets leave signs that even the least observant can read. And the only way out of the rubble is to take hold of the words of a true prophet of God.

What is God’s word to you? In the quiet depths of prayer, can you hear that voice calling you away from some way in which you damage yourself or allow yourself to be damaged by the world? Calling you into health, calling you into strength, calling you into the power that comes from centering yourself in what God wants for you, rather than what the world tells you to want. And in that power, maybe, just maybe, might God be raising you up to counter the false prophets who are corrupting this world so badly?

          May we take the time to listen for God, and hear God’s word break through all those voices. Amen.