A Church That Loves Prophets

If the Church wants to trumpet its dedication to social justice, it does not take much effort to locate a prophetic text that is utterly retweetable by believer and nonbeliever alike: â??Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widowâ??s causeâ? (Isa. 1:17). The Gospel of Luke has long been my favorite because he seems to consistently evoke this prophetic call in his account of the life and ministry of Jesus. Lukeâ??s (and, by extension, Maryâ??s) Jesus has a word for the downtrodden and the oppressed: â??he has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of humble estateâ? (Luke 1:52)!