There are two passages today that talk about opposition. The other is the idol made during the exile that all should worship. At that time, three people confronted the king, saying.
16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. 17If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. 18But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
And in the shorter passage we are looking at today, John is arrested by Herod because he preaches that Herod should not have incestuously married. If we speak truth to power, expect a pushback. If we tell those in authority they are evil, evil will be done to us. The righteous have always been punished by the elite, for the elite have made an accommodation with the inevitable injustices and evils in this world to remain in that place.
15As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. 19But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
Now, most of us are not called to be prophets, and for this we should be grateful and praise God. The calling of confrontation comes with a price: Many of the prophets did not die in their bed, but on the rack or in the executioner’s yard.
When times are easy and our rulers are just, this is not an issue. Most of the time in NZ, this is not an issue — even our most unjust government in recent times was not (Chris Findlayson snarks beautifully on this in the video clip)
(FWIW, Chris is the Attorney-General of NZ, and is a staunch Catholic). And hat tip to Cam Slater
But do not delude yourself. If you confront those in power, particularly when corruption is endemic, there will be consequences. For you, and your family.
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