Sermon: Prophetic Lament

By Joanna Lawrence Shenk

Luke 13:31-35

It is a hard world we are living in friends. I’m glad we are here together to strengthen and encourage each other. I know I have needed that throughout this past week. There is something about the lenten journey this year that resonates deeply with me – the journey toward confrontation with the powerful. The journey of giving up and letting go. I don’t mean that in terms of “there’s no point in continuing.” It’s more of a letting go of constantly trying to figure things out and what it means for the future. 

In the midst of this letting go, I have been finding solace in communities of care and resistance. This congregation. Mennonite Action. I definitely experienced solace and courage in our action on the street last weekend as we declared that God’s Love Knows No Borders. Thank you Jim for sharing so many beautiful pictures from the action in our newsletter this week, and Randy for taking them. 

I am also finding solace in our narrative lectionary series as we trace the presence and power of God moving through history to transform the world. This grounding in scripture has also helped me to see the distortions of Christian nationalism more clearly. More about that later. 

Our passage today, for context, comes after Jesus heals a chronically ill woman on the sabbath which really annoys the religious establishment. Then he compares the kindom of God to a mustard seed, an invasive weed that messes up the neat rows of imperial agriculture and he also mentions that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, among other things. 

With all that in mind it’s not surprising that some religious leaders show up telling him to get out of town. Herod wants to kill you they say, (he’s not currently in Jerusalem) but it seems like Jesus is already well aware of this. It’s not clear if Jesus is actually in danger or if the religious leaders just want him to go away. 

Either way, Jesus is undeterred and gives them a message to share with Herod. Tell that fox he says that I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing until I’m done doing it. Specifically this was healing people and casting out demons. As theologian Ched Myers points out, his healings were not about addressing individual physical ailments, they were about restoring outcasts to community. These acts of healing were a rebuke to the status quo that marginalized vulnerable people.

For this and other subversive behavior he knew what awaited him. “O Jerusalem” he said, “You kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I wanted to gather your children together as a mother bird collects her chicks under her wings–yet you refuse me! So take note: your house will be left to you desolate.”

In this lament I hear him desiring that the leaders in Jerusalem would make different decisions and protect the people from exploitation. This call of the prophets echoes through our narrative lectionary series all the way back to the original instruction given to Abram and Sarai, to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. 

The prophets arose during the era of the kings to remind them of this original instruction, to remind them to return to right relationship. The prophets who challenged the kings sometimes paid with their lives. When Jesus notes that Jerusalem kills the prophets he is naming this history and acknowledging what his fate will be. 

And he is also grieving because he wants it to go differently. He wants those in power to repent so that rather than exploiting the people they can seek their welfare and protect them from the violence of Roman occupation. When he says “your house will be left to you desolate,” I hear him saying that their collusion with Rome will not ultimately keep them safe. 

As a Jewish prophet he wanted his people, as well as other subjugated peoples, to be liberated from the imperial occupation they were enduring. This is what ultimately led to his execution at the hands of the Romans. And what a cruel irony that this empire that killed him, appropriated his movement within a couple hundred years and determined what scriptures could be used to tell its story. 

There was no way that the Holy Roman Empire was going to own up to the fact that they killed Jesus. Christian elites from the time of Constantine have baked in blame of Jewish people to scriptural interpretation in order to obscure imperial oppression and exploitation.

This imperial Christianity is continuing to be perpetuated today by those who claim Christian nationalism and its accompanying foreign policy Christian Zionism. This ideology purports that immigrants are the problem, and Palestinians are the problem, and trans people are the problem and poor people are the problem (to name a few). These vile misdirections by the ruling class seek to hide their wanton destruction, all for the sake of greed and control.  

The prophetic tradition of our scriptures has basically one thing to say to imperial Christianity. You are wrong. So wrong. Any religion that colludes with empire cannot follow the original instruction to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Jesus’ prophetic clarity about how to be a blessing echoes through the ages: good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, vision for those whose spirits are crushed, release to those in prison, and cancellation of debt. 

These acts of healing and liberation will always be an affront to those in power. Now more than ever we must be undeterred in following this call. As one example I know that earlier this week Kathryn and Jim stood with unhoused, immigrant families in San Francisco to demand shelter. The press conference on March 10 and subsequent media coverage resulted in a temporary extension of housing, while Faith in Action continues to organize for long-term solutions. 

As another way of living out this prophetic calling today, Victor and I (on behalf of Outreach committee) have prepared letters that we can send to elected officials calling for the release of two people currently held in detention. One is Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student at Columbia who is a permanent resident and green card holder married to a US citizen who was detained as a threat to national security due to his opposition to the occupation of Palestine. His arrest is a chilling act of repression of first amendment rights. 

The other is a queer Filipino woman, Ligaya, who has been held in detention since 2018 with no option for release. The SF Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines is advocating for her freedom and invites us to join them. Victor will share more about her situation during Prayers of the People. 

In these challenging times, when the future seems more uncertain than ever, may we remember our sacred stories and to what they call us. The way of the prophets is a hard road but it is the way of life. Just as Jesus had a clarity of purpose in the face of imperial violence, may we continue his subversive work – standing with and as the marginalized. 

Together may we have the courage to rebuke the lies of imperial Christianity and stand together as family across borders and nationalities. I offer this question from our sacred story as a guide in these times – how am I, and how are we, being a blessing to the families of the earth? May the Spirit guide and strengthen us as we live out this calling. Amen.