March 17, Lent 2C (Luke 13:31-35)
Prophecy is a job not for the comfortable but for the afflicted.
Luke’s Jesus is prophetic. His first sermon in Luke 4 promises reversals of fortune and deliverance from oppression. The healings he performs foretell a reign in which sickness does not rend relationships. The stories he tells paint a picture of a confounding but hopeful world of unjust judges who finally heed the call to justice, and of sons who make their way home again, and of Samaritans who care for the afflicted. Even his birth is heralded by the prophetic singing of Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon, their songs promising a world set upside down and right side up.
For all these reasons, I turn to Luke’s Jesus for hope—especially in these days when justice seems to be in short order. But I have to be careful when I yearn for his prophetic words to turn into a world of righteousness.
The prophet’s job is unenviable. Preachers and leaders too often miss this, assuming that speaking truth to power is righteous and right and maybe even easy. Our tendency to surround ourselves, both on social media and in real life, with people who agree with us can inure us to the difficult path a prophet takes up.
