“Jerusalem, 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.” Luke 13:34

It’s not easy to be a prophet, either in Jerusalem or Washington these days. The prophetic voice is unwelcome. Meanwhile, the drum beat of nationalism, exclusivism, and a desire to diminish rights of those unlike those in power, has grown.

When Jesus said Jerusalem was a city that, “Killed the prophets and stoned the messengers that were sent to it,” he was reflecting on it’s heritage.  John the Baptist had been killed not long before. In the past,  others  prophets had been persecuted and stoned. Prophets are fine and  eloquence is praised, until prophets  begin to speak about real things, like justice, honesty, integrity and compassion . . . Until they begin to threaten the status quo, or the power of those who maintain power over others.

Jesus came with a prophetic voice, pointing out injustice and inequality. The economic well-being of every person was core to his message, of repentance. He continued to remind people that unless one loved their neighbor, they could not claim to love God.

Watching the crackdown on immigrants has been painful these last weeks. Even those who are legally in the country are being arrested. People who protested Israel’s slaughter of 46,000 people in Gaza, are  charged with crimes. Yesterday’s international students, are considered enemies today. Other immigrants, having received protected status because of violence in their own countries, are rounded up and denied the rights granted to them.

The election of a United States president, should not fundamentally change the values of our country. Either we believe in equality, justice and the Bill of Rights, or we don’t. This is not a partisan issue.

For followers of Jesus, political parties ought not to be the determining factor in our values.

In our divided world of confused values, Jesus is still wanting to gather us, like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

The question is, “Will we let him?”