Chicken Run

Called to be Prophet

Ezekiel 2:2-5 and Mark 6:1-6

• Throughout Scripture, prophets are usually uncertain and unwilling:
  • Moses made all sorts of excuses before finally going to face Pharaoh.  
  • Jonah tried to run away across the sea to escape God, and had to face a storm at sea, be thrown overboard, and survive the belly of a what before he accepted his mission to the people of Ninevah!

But God is persistent.  He says "Go!  Tell my people this!" and so eventually... his prophets go!

In the same way, Rocky insisted that he was not the one for the job, first when he arrived and then again when his wing healed.  But Ginger's persistence pays off.

• As Jesus says, prophets are usually rejected, especially by their own: 
  • It's pretty clear that at least a person or two thought that Deborah -- prophet, judge and general -- was a little nuts when she came up with her plan to beat the Sisera's army.
  • It's not hard to imagine that eyebrows were raised when Anna -- a woman who never left the temple but worshipped and prayed and fasted there night and day -- proclaimed that the eight-day-old baby that Joseph and Mary brought to the Temple was the one who would redeem all of Israel.
  • Jesus was rejected in his hometown because no one could believe that "Joseph's boy" could do such things!

Similarly, when Ginger proposes yet another escape plan, the entire henhouse declares her to be crazy and the idea of escape impossible.  Nonetheless, Ginger persists.

• But despite her bravado, Ginger is discouraged when she leaves the henhouse.  Still, she is a hen of great faith.  What does she do?  She prays ("Heaven help us") ... and is immediately rewarded with the arrival of Rocky as "an answer to our prayers"! 

• Prophets are sent to proclaim God's vision of liberation, of freedom, of the "beyond" to those without much power in society:
  • Moses freed the Israelites from Egypt.
  • Amos sought to free the poor from the injustice of the rich.
  • Jesus came to free us from the bonds of our sin.

In the same way, both Ginger and Rocky work to free the poor chickens from the powerful farmers.

But more than that, Ginger must free them not only from the cages of the farm, but the cages in their minds, as they resign themselves to slavery and eventual death. 

Ginger also frees Rocky from his self-doubt... even as she struggles with her own (see below). 

Ginger does the same for Fowler when she declares  "Today is your day!"

• Prophets frequently doubt their own abilities, because they forget that it is God who does the work; they are just God's messenger:
  • Moses made excuses, blaming a speech impediment.
  • Jonah was sure that the people of Ninevah would kill him before they listened to him.

But they are always graced with power from God to do more than they thought they could.

Rocky first refuses to help and later runs away because he doubts his ability to help the chickens on the farm. When Fowler presents him with the medal, Rocky is stunned, because he never saw himself that way.  

But Rocky had jumped to rescue Ginger from the pie machine, without a second thought to himself. And even though he ran away, when he really saw (in the form of a billboard) the fate that rest before his friends, he turned around and went back to help.

Questions:

Prophets never expect God's call, but get up and act when they do.

Are you listening for God's call to you?

What is he saying?

What are you going to do about it? 

For more about the film, check out its entry at the Internet Movie Data Base.

For another look at the film in connection with the gospel, check out the entry at The Text This Week or at Hollywood Jesus.

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