Finished vs. unfinished prophets (tears of things - pt. 5)

Today we move into chapters 5 & 6 of Richard Rohr's fantastic book, 'The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for An Age of Outrage.' Here is a brief summary of the two chapters:

In Chapter 5, Jeremiah: The Patterns That Carry Us Across, Rohr draws on the prophet Jeremiah to show how genuine prophecy involves three stages — order, disorder, and reorder — that mirror a spiritual maturation from righteous anger, through lament, into a kind of hope-filled surrender. Jeremiah, the so-called “reluctant prophet,” challenges his community’s shallow religiosity and violence, yet ultimately models a covenant of unconditional love rooted in grief and fierce longing. In Chapter 6, Unfinished Prophets: Elijah, Jonah, and John the Baptizer, Rohr reflects on three biblical figures who remain “unfinished” — they stay stuck in anger, blame, or dualistic thinking, never fully moving into the deeper compassion and grace that a mature prophet embodies. Through their unfinishedness, Rohr warns against moralism without transformation and invites us toward a prophetic maturity shaped by vulnerability, humility, and a relinquishing of ego.

Here are some of my highlighted (underlined) parts:

p. 64 - "Here we see the emerging pattern that God's people are invariably rescued by those on the edges themselves..."

**p. 65 - "I used to say 'I will not think about God anymore, I will not speak in his name anymore,' Then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart. I am weary with holding it in and I could not bear it." (Jeremiah 20:7-9)

p. 69-70 - "So many religious people could be called 'defenders of the metaphors'! They love the bread or the water, but do not go where they point: to the inherent scrality of quite ordinary things."

p. 70 - "Authentic Christianity must be an utter commitment to reality, as opposed to ritual, or it is not a commitment to God." ... "The question is whether the ritual is pointing to the good, the true, and the beautiful, or pointing to the drama."

p. 73 - "Constant success does not teach you much that is helpful in terms of the less visible world."

Chapter 6 --

p. 81 - "My major thesis in this book is that most prophets invariably start with legitimate but righteously dualistic anger at the sins and injustice in the world. AS they pursue their calling to teach what they think is God's truth, they confront confusion, denial, doubt, love, and most especially epiphany. Maturing prophets let these experiences change them, allowing themselves to evolve into non-dual and compassionate truth-tellers.... What I call 'unfinished prophets' don't evolve and mature but persist in anger, blaming, and accusations. They remain moralistic and judgmental, but without the non-dual mysticism that characterizes a major prophet..."

p. 85 - "Their job is to speak the truth and let go of the consequences of any need for an ideal response. Even if no one listens, they do not lose heart. That is a major indicator of the purity of their message."

**p. 94 - "The transformative journey of the prophets from anger to tears to compassion is the journey of the God of the Bible and those who read the Bible with love."

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And... there you have it.