24 March 2005

A look at the story of Jesus through "The Prophetic Imagination" by Walter Brueggemann.

...the Lukan account of the disclosure to the shepherds, the representative marginal ones, announces a newness that will displace the old regime. Appropriately the recipients of unexpected newness are filled with wonder and awe (Luke 2:17-20). The intrusion embodied in the birth of Jesus causes a radical inversion:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away. (Luke 1:51-53)
The birth of Jesus brings a harsh end to a Herodian reality that seemed ordained forever, and it created a new historical situation for marginal people that none in their despair could have anticipated.

We live in a world that does little for the marginalized. Is it that we do not care? Is it that we only like the poetic images of liberation and care for those on the margin? When our faith is merely an individualized one in which we care primarily for our own well-being, it is easy to see that we would - when pushed - side with the powers-that-be...since we are so often a part of them. Jesus and the images of the prophets attempt to bring another view into existence so that we will take the risk of moving toward its vision and making our lives walk within its sketches of how promises come to life. Those who are on the margin find food within these visions. Those of us who are more closely in line with the ways things are can find these visions a bit threatening because we are all be invited to open up our lives and find "the other" as one of us and not distant anymore.

Connection: As is said many times, we need to learn how to listen to those who are marginalized and we need to hear how the systems that run the world do not listen to any voice but their own. And then, we must add our voices to the call for liberation and loving kindness that may disrupt the usual flow of the day.

Your promises, O God, are for all your people. We often do not listen to how you side with those we tend to push to the side and to the back of the room. Help us, again, to listen to your vision for life that is so clearly spoken by the prophets and brought to life in Jesus. Amen.