Training the Prophetic Voice, Part 4: Jesus as Prophetic Trainer

In my ongoing series on training the prophetic voice, we have looked at several biblical and theological aspects of what it means to speak with a prophetic voice. We have seen how speaking truth is the heart of the prophetic voice, and that God himself is the theological grounding of our conception of truth-speaking. In my last article, I developed the concept of the schools of the prophets in the Old Testament. The master prophets not only spoke truth to power, but they cultivated the prophetic voice among their disciples.

In today’s article, we will explore how Jesus founded a school of the prophets by gathering to himself a group of disciples. Thinking about Jesus not only as a prophet, but as a leader of a new prophetic schools will help us see his training methods in a new light. The insights we gain from this study of Jesus can transform our own classrooms into places where our students are cultivated to reach their full potential.

Previous articles in this series, Training the Prophetic Voice:

Part 1: The Educational Heart of God

Part 2: Speaking Truth to Power

Part 3: The Schools of the Prophets

Prophets as Master Teachers

In my previous article in this series, we saw how the classic prophets were leaders in the schools of the prophets. The passing of the baton from Elijah to Elisha was a case in point, as the students – designated as the “sons of the prophets” – saw how Elisha bore Elijah’s mantle and accepted him as their new master prophet. The Old Testament establishes a mode of discipleship that is taken up in the New Testament. In the case of Elisha, we learn of the call of Elisha as a disciple of Elijah, who then follows Elijah on his prophetic mission. We can imagine that Elisha joined a number of other adherents to Elijah, but none of the other “sons of the prophets” is named or given a call narrative.

The article I wrote on Jesus as a learner proposed that Jesus joined the disciples of John the Baptist. This seems to have been an important fact to establish, since each of the gospels place John the Baptist at the very beginning of Jesus ministry. In fact, we can see ways in which Jesus’ early ministry is patterned after that of John the Baptist. When Jesus begins calling his own disciples, several are drawn from the group of disciples surrounding John the Baptist. In this way, the transition from John the Baptist to Jesus mirrors the transition from Elijah to Elisha.[1]

So a major insight into the person of Jesus Christ is that he is a master teacher in the tradition of the classic prophets who oversaw the schools of the prophets. This helps us understand why the gospels relate so many episodes of Jesus’ teachings. On one level, the teachings of Jesus are a storehouse of divine wisdom for all of his followers to live in light of the kingdom of God. On another level, the teachings of Jesus operate as a sign of a new work of God through Jesus to inaugurate a new people of God with Jesus gathering about him a new prophetic school.

Another major insight into the person of Christ is his nature as message itself. Not only is he the teacher, he is the teaching. From the beginning, the second person of the trinity was the mouthpiece of creation and the source of all revelation. In my book Ecclesiology and the Scriptural Narrative of 1 Peter, I make the case that in 1 Peter 1:12 we learn how Jesus spoke through the Old Testament prophets.

“The Spirit of Christ manifests the prophetic message of salvation and grace proclaimed by the prophets. Literally, the pre-existent Christ ‘pre-witnesses’ (προμαρτύρομαι) the work of Christ. While the prophets were mediators of divine messages regarding the Christ, it was Christ himself who spoke through them.” (53)

Patrick Egan, Ecclesiology and the Scriptural Narrative of 1 Peter (Pickwick, 2016), 53.

From this we gather that Jesus, as the incarnation of the second person of the trinity, was always the vessel of divine wisdom. It is in his nature to reveal prophetically. Therefore, we could say that from the beginning of time, Jesus was the master prophet in charge of prophecy, and that the process by which he assumed the role of prophetic leader was a mere formality.

The Disciples as a School of Prophets

The call of the twelve disciples can now be seen as a reinstatement of the discipleship pattern established in the old prophetic schools. Just as the prophets of old had disciples, Jesus calls to himself a group of disciples who will learn from the master prophet about the kingdom of God. The disciples walk and talk with Jesus during his travels throughout the Palestinian region. They bear witness to his miraculous works of healing and learn from his teachings. Sometimes his teaching episodes are exclusively for the benefit of the twelve, but often Jesus’ teachings unfold amidst the gathering crowds. The disciples sometimes asked probing questions after these large group teachings, clarifying difficult aspects of Jesus’ divine insights.

A stunning aspect of Jesus’ mentorship of his disciples is the fact that he sent them out on short missions. Matthew 10:5-15 records one such mission for the twelve. They were sent out with specific instructions. What I find particularly interesting is the correspondence between the message of the twelve and the first message of Jesus. The twelve are instructed to proclaim, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (10:7). Minus the initial charge to repent, this is the exact message of Jesus in Mathew 4:17. In my article on Jesus as learner, I noted how Jesus first message corresponds with that of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (3:2) The modeling and rehearsing of the simple prophetic message gives us a profound insight into Jesus’ role as the head of a new school of the prophets.

The Gospel of Luke also contains the sending of the twelve (Luke 9:1-6). This is followed up with a mission on a much larger scale. In Luke 10, seventy-two others were sent in pairs. The message and procedures are very similar to the other commission narratives in the gospels. This next group is six times as large as the core group of disciples. Jesus seemed to be having a good season of enrollment in his school of the prophets! At the very least, we can say that the message of Jesus was being disseminated through the careful training of quite a number of students who were given opportunities for genuine field practice.

Prophetic Discipleship

In Peter’s second sermon in Acts, speaking in Jerusalem at Solomon’s Portico he carefully defines the role of prophecy for the people of God. He grounds prophecy in the speech of God, such that divine revelation is the true power behind prophecy (Acts 3:18). He also demonstrates that the proper response to prophecy is repentance (3:19). Peter then develops the concept that the entire lineage of prophets spoke about the restoration of the people of God through Jesus. In this context, Peter uses the phrase “sons of the prophets” to tell his audience that they are the sons of the prophets inasmuch as they respond appropriately to the call of God (3:25). From this we could say that the call to discipleship is a call to join the school of the prophets. This does not mean that we will have the kind of dynamic ministry that, say, Elijah had. But it does mean that we will live our lives in accordance with God’s revelation and that our speech aligns with this divine wisdom.

There is a pattern of discipleship throughout the Bible. One of the most meaningful passages for me has been 2 Timothy 2:2 where Paul advises Timothy to entrust the deposit of faith with faithful followers who will in turn teach others. In the prophetic tradition, discipleship does not make a follower into the image of the mentor. Instead, discipleship seeks to help the follower to learn the words of God and to be able to handle them well. This is actually the heart of effective teaching.

The Church as a School of the Prophets

Whether we draw upon the principle of discipleship in 2 Timothy 2:2 or consider the implications of the written Gospels, present-day followers of Jesus are part of a school of the prophets, so to speak. Jesus’s teachings were such that his disciples learned, shared and recorded them so that generations could learn from him. As the incarnate Word of God, we have that direct contact with God’s revelation through Jesus Christ in the gospels. The careful preservation of this word is expressed well in Richard Bauckham’s landmark work, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses. Jesus the teacher carefully crafted his teachings to be easily memorable to promote preservation. Bauckham writes:

“In a predominantly oral society, not only do people deliberately remember but also teachers formulate their teachings so as to make them easily memorable. It has frequently been observed that Jesus’ teaching in its typically Synoptic forms has many features that facilitate remembering. . . . These teaching formulations were certainly not created by Jesus ad hoc, in the course of his teaching, but were carefully crafted, designed as concise encapsulations of his teaching that his hearers could take away, remember, ponder, and live by.”

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Eerdmans, 2006), 282.

We see this encapsulation in the early message of Jesus (“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”) which has been shown to match exactly the message of John the Baptist and is then handed to the disciples as their message. Jesus deliberate teaching strategies has enabled generations of Jesus followers to continue to teach his words. The church has been handed the words of prophecy and the charge of prophecy. The Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20) is the passing of the baton to the disciples to take upon themselves a prophetic ministry. This commission is handed down to us, the church, to proclaim in the world God’s message of salvation.

Training the Prophetic Voice

There are several practical implications for us as teachers today when we think about Jesus as a teacher as well as the founder of a school of the prophets. First, our schools should be inundated with God’s word. Scripture is God-breathed and “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Tim 3:16) C.S. Lewis was concerned that modern education, with its focus on job training, was producing “men without chests.” One of the best ways to build up our students with warm-hearted Christianity is to help them learn the Bible as God’s message to them.

This leads to my second practical implication, which is very close to the first. We must help our students understand how to handle God’s word. It can be tricky learning about an ancient text with multiple authors and various genres. Some episodes in the Bible can be indelicate for young ears. We also need to be cautious about collapsing all subjects into a Bible lesson. So, we need moments in the day when we are intentionally training our students in how to interpret the Bible effectively. This doesn’t need to be done comprehensively, forming them into Bible scholars. But we do need to provide enough to stimulate their natural curiosity and interest as well as to enable them to engage in fruitful study on their own. We can also demonstrate in our different subject areas how to view the subject with a biblical worldview. How do we, as bible-believing Christians, think about mathematics, science, literature, or history? For me, I rarely bring in a specific Bible passage, but demonstrate through discussion that biblical faith is consistent and compatible with what we are exploring in different subjects.

Okay, so your students have learned lots of Bible passages and they’ve learned methods to interpret the Bible effectively, the next practical implication is for them to know how to translate God’s message for today. Most of my students walk in the door hearing lots of perspectives on the news today. It might be political in nature or it might pertain to the latest gossip out of Hollywood. There are moments when I need to divert the conversation away from controversy when I know the students can’t handle these things effectively. However, there are times when I take on board whatever topic they’ve brought in order to ask them, “What does the Bible have to say about this?” or “Is there a divine perspective on this?” or “What do you think God thinks about this?” Guiding students in this way helps them to see that a biblical worldview can help them navigate the complex issues of today. The goal is for them to make the connections between God’s divine wisdom and the contemporary problems that need to be addressed. Here’s where they get to practice their prophetic voices. Even though I am not sending them out two by two, they still get that training expressing God’s message for today.

Finally, as Christian schools, we should cultivate a Christ-centered approach to schooling. If Jesus is the eternal message – in John’s terms, the Word – spoken by the prophets of old and speaking through his followers today, then we should be constantly refocusing ourselves on the reality of his presence in our schools each day. “For where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matt. 18:20) This becomes the life blood of our schools. We cling to the cross of our salvation, being prompt to apologize and ask forgiveness. We celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, trusting in the transforming power of his holy spirit in our lives and the lives of our students.

Other articles in this series, Training the Prophetic Voice:

Part 1: The Educational Heart of God

Part 2: Speaking Truth to Power

Part 3: The Schools of the Prophets

Part 5: Internalizing the Prophetic Message

Part 6: Classical Rhetoric for the Modern World

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[1] Most commentators see a connection between the Elijah-Elisha narrative and the depiction of the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. Perhaps Thomas Brodie has taken this idea the furthest by proposing that the Elijah-Elisha narrative was instrumental as a literary model behind each of the Gospels. See Thomas L. Brodie, The Crucial Bridge (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000).