The Problem of the Prophetic Message

One of my favorite pericopes in the Book of Luke is Luke 4:16-30. The NRSV reads like this:

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

In this Text, we see how Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah. Not only did he read the scroll, but he declared that he fulfilled the scripture that was read. What was so troubling about someone who had a message of bringing good news to the poor? What was wrong with someone believing the prophets’ words of proclaiming release to those who were in bondage and those who were blind? What was wrong with someone teaching liberation to those who are oppressed?

Over the years, I believe that I have learned what the problem is. It disrupts control that those who are in positions of power have over “the least of these” and allows the Spirit of God to come in and liberate people from whatever may be oppressing them. This type of teaching has caused some to label me as a false teacher to discredit the long hours that I have put into researching the context of Text that we have quoted for centuries. It has caused others to discredit my scholarship by seeking to silence me from educating their adult children who had been sent to an institution of higher learning to learn how to think for themselves instead of mama and daddy dictating their continued pulpit sanctioned indoctrination. It has emboldened those who take a lackadaisical approach to life and theology to challenge my intellect by using dismissive rhetoric that is informed by their favorite outlets of media. It indicts our sacred cows and idolatrous worship of power, finance, human gods, evil demonic spirits, and oppressive ideologies that go against the Divine nature of the Creator of the universe.

In future blogs, I will deal with unearthing the evil spirits that have been masquerading around as symbols of Christianity for years in this country. I have a chapter that was supposed to be published in a book several years ago. But the power brokers made sure our voices were silenced in that project. I started this blog as a way to self-publish articles so I could give people nuggets of information to consider. I do not expect everyone to agree with the things that I write. As a matter of fact, I teach others not to believe what I believe just because I believe it. I am just giving you something to think about that may make you rethink what you thought you knew. This approach is purposefully different because I have been a part of ecclesiastical polities that discourage the practice of intellectual thought because it could lead you down the “slippery slope” of disobeying God, or should I say their idolatrous god of controlling how others should approach the One who created each one of us.

For years, I have been discussing and teaching against the idolatrous and evil ideologies that American Christianity has been worshipping for centuries. In the coming blog posts, I will deal with what the “ekklesia” of what Jesus started was intended to be and how factions of Western Christianity (especially American Christianity) have bastardized it by marrying it to capitalism and the ideology of Whiteness (not skin color) creating the “trinity of evil.” A remedial reading or understanding of the last sentence will cause an ill-informed reader to get into their feelings hurt and start name calling because evil spirits will convince them that I do not believe in the power of the teachings of Luke in the Book of Acts. I will discuss how those in positions of power use the Bible to control how people think and live. I will examine how imperialistic propaganda has been used as another gospel to deceive others. So, stay tuned to future posts…