He Stirs Up the People . . .
Reverend Dr. Kent L. Poindexter, Contributing Writer
In its effort to maintain a hold on its influence in the world, the church struggles with reaching masses of people. Many (especially the naysayers) say the church has no meaningful message in this “mess age” and has little or no appeal and needs to look within to determine its role in society. The collective needs to ask itself: What is God saying to us, and how shall we respond? What did Jesus do as he walked among those who were hurting, confused, despondent, and angry? Who would have assumed that their survival depended on not provoking the powers that be?
The Gospel of Luke reminds us about the impact of Jesus on the people who sought change and understood that God was the only answer to changing their circumstances. Clearly, the message he preached profoundly impacted their understanding of how God guided their lives. Clearly, the political leaders of the day were at odds over how they should deal with the changing attitudes of the people, who believed that God was on their side. As the traditionalists fought to silence Christ, they argued before the Roman government that his message was dangerous, that it “perverted their nation,” and that he “stirred up the people” with his message of hope. For them, religion was the source of their power; they could not control people who were inspired to hear God and respond to this new word of unconditional love. Such words of hope would possibly cause people to believe in divine change. Jesus inspired them to believe that God was challenging them to do “a new thing.”
The debate continues as to whether Jesus was guilty of a crime. While blasphemy may have been an assault on Jewish law, the real issue was “stirring up the people.” Jesus taught people to be enlightened, to wake up! In fact, he was guilty of promoting the “woke agenda” by speaking truth to power.
Politics that rose against people being “woke” resulted in Jesus Christ paying the ultimate price. He admonished those who desired to be part of the new movement to follow Him. Perhaps it is time for the Church to consider how it will faithfully follow in his footsteps.
