About whom exactly is Jesus talking here? That’s a tricky question.
Luke tells us that he speaks against “some” who trust in themselves
because they are righteous. But we want names.
Last year I attended a prayer vigil in downtown Jackson on the night of
a scheduled execution. A hard rain was falling. I recognized a couple
of people as fellow clergy and a couple of others as consistent
advocates for justice in our small state. It was just a small crowd
composed of those who have been praying and working against capital
punishment for years.
Members of our church were studying the Hebrew word shalom
one night when someone asked: “Where are the places in our community
that seemed to be governed by fear, division, doubt and death?”
In the year after the tsunami destroyed the Sri Lankan coastline,
lawmakers threatened to pass a law making Christian evangelism illegal.
The proposed law was popular because of widespread anti-Christian
sentiment. The majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, and they resented
the privilege given to minority Christians under British rule in the
past.
