Lent day 7: Chocolate, really?

³¹At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” ³²He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁵See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Why are prophets so scary that we can't keep them safe?  They wield nothing more than words, and they tend to be poetic at that.  Krista Tippett describes the prophet's role: "Beginning with the words they choose, they transcend ideological splits that actually inhibit us from seizing the great challenges and problems of our time. So "I have a dream" is the line we all remember from Martin Luther King Jr., a prophet of living memory. The prophetic voice is not issues-based. It accomplishes the harder, more necessary work of reframing the big picture of what is at stake, so that we can take in the reality of our moment in a new way, with a new sense of what might be possible."

Prophets help us connect the dots between the world as it is and the world as it might be.  We don't much like being reminded about the way we are living.  Especially if it means giving something up.  And for those of us in charge of the world as it is, it may mean giving up a lot.

Jesus spent his teaching time trying to get the world to understand how it might be different, how it might be more like the kingdom of God.  I love those beautiful kingdom sayings, and I struggle with what they mean for me.  

What should I be willing to give up for the kingdom of God?  What am I willing to do for those without equal access to the church's presence in the most important, precious and beautiful times of their lives?  What privileges of ours do we need to reverse in order to move toward the kingdom?

It's about more than chocolate.