I’m not exactly sure why we’re reading the passage from Luke’s Gospel appointed for Sunday; it’s short, not really a story, and somewhat inscrutable. But we will see what gems we might mine from it. It begins with a warning to Jesus:
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’
On the face of it, this would appear to be a benevolent act, to warn a man that he’s in trouble with the political powers that be. But let’s not forget who’s issuing this warning: the religious powers with whom Jesus has been publicly tangling. Are they looking to spare his life? Or to get him out of their way, so they no longer have to put up with his insults and skewering of their hypocrisies?
I rarely engage in word study (or any study, for that matter, several degrees notwithstanding), and I have forgotten what little Greek I acquired during seminary, but I’m told that the Greek word from which we get “hypocrite” means simply “actor, or one who plays a part.” Jesus was always accusing the Pharisees of proclaiming one thing and doing another, of acting the part of deeply holy men while they benefited from the charity of those they oppressed. If anyone might have wanted Jesus out of the way, it would have been this party. So did they take the act a step further, feigning concern?
From his response, it doesn’t appear that Jesus thought they had his best interests at heart. In replying, he manages to further inflame them, ensuring their enmity if it wasn’t already there. So now Jesus has enemies in the palace as well as in the temple courts.
And maybe that was okay with him. He knew that as he continued his mission of deliverance and healing, going head to head with the source of evil, and calling out injustice, he was going to rattle a lot of cages. He knew to put his trust only in his heavenly father and a few followers – and soon found he couldn’t even fully rely on them.
So why are we reading this? Perhaps as a reminder that when we’re truly about the work of proclaiming freedom for captives and justice for the oppressed and sight for the blind and new life for the dead, we’re going to make enemies. There are a lot of forces invested in the status quo. Few are more hated than peace-makers - that's why so many are assassinated. Of course, we still need to proceed with humility and discernment – too many false prophets have cited resistance to their message as proof of their rectitude. We know it’s not that simple… And yet, I want to say this:
If we’re not making anybody mad, are we really living the gospel?
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