ACTA PROPHETARUM: THE "AXE" OF THE PROPHETS

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But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed." Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out his hand and took it.
2 Kings 6:5‭-‬7 ESV

¶Before there were the "Acts of the Apostles" (Acta Apostolorum), there were the acts of the prophets (Acta Prophetarum). Prophets were given not only words to speak but actions to perform. They did not necessarily perform miracles to get people out of trouble or make their lives more comfortable. In the case of Hosea and his harlot wife, and Jeremiah and his soiled loincloth, it was the opposite. Instead, the actions were imbued with meaning. We are supposed to think about them. What greater could God raise up than an axe head of iron? How else does God deliver us from the debt of sin we owe in this borrowed life? These are the questions that the acts of Elisha might raise. The signs that Jesus worked, the sacraments He left us to perform, these are part of His ministry as prophet, part of the Gospel, given for us to contemplate and sometimes re-enact for the world.

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