"carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.”

Not many prophets get the honor of national recognition, and few get respect while alive, especially if their prophetic voice speaks truth to power. Across the United States the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr is celebrated this weekend, reminding us how much more critical work must be done by all of us to face and fix the systemic societal racism that King fought against and paid for with his life. As a pastor deeply rooted in his faith, King referred often to the visions of the prophets of Israel, including Isaiah, Amos and Hosea - whose words we are reading these weeks in our Below the Bible Belt Journey. 

In his famous Letter from Birmingham City Jail, in 1963, King wrote, 

“I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their home towns…so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.”

It’s incredible to think of the fact that an obscure character like Hosea Son of Be’eri, living somewhere in Samaria in the 8th century BCE, railed against injustice and immorality, corruption and violence - and his words would echo for centuries to light up the fight for what’s right of so many prophets in faraway lands. 

Today, we need prophetic voices that dare name the truth and also offer consolation to our hurting souls and minds - more than ever. 

I am standing in front of the UN, on the Isaiah steps, about to join a protest marking 100 horrible and tragic days since the start of this violent war between Israel and Hamas, demanding to return the hostages whatever it takes, and and end to this war.

And while this protest will pinpoint the plight of these Israelis trapped inside the jaws of rage and injustice, there are others everywhere looking at the bigger picture, naming the multiple ways morality and justice is betrayed and looked away from at this time of war, risking and damaging the right to life and safety and dignity for millions. 

What would have MLK said today? 

In 1966 he said these words at a speech to the Synagogue Council of America: 

“Today we particularly need the Hebrew prophets because they taught that to love God was to love justice; that each human being has an inescapable obligation to denounce evil where he sees it and to defy a ruler who commands him to break the covenant.”

The Hebrew prophets are needed today because we need their flaming courage; we need them because the thunder of their fearless voices is the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and clamor of war hysteria….”

Responding to him from history and from the pages of the Bible that he knew so well, Hosea, son of Be’eri - his parents name  means “My Well” - familiar now as the grieving Kibbutz which one of the worse site of attack on October 7 - also promised future healing, a return to the covenant with the divine, an end to war and a calmer future for the entire ecosystem. In the second chapter of his prophecies that we began reading this week, he speaks for God with words of future promise: 

“On that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the reptiles on the ground,; I will also banish bow, sword, and war from the land. On that day I will let them lie down in safety.”

וְכָרַתִּ֨י לָהֶ֤ם בְּרִית֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא עִם־חַיַּ֤ת הַשָּׂדֶה֙ וְעִם־ע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָ֑ה וְקֶ֨שֶׁת וְחֶ֤רֶב וּמִלְחָמָה֙ אֶשְׁבּ֣וֹר מִן־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְהִשְׁכַּבְתִּ֖ים לָבֶֽטַח׃

Hosea.2.20

With gratitude and deep respect to King, Hosea, every prophetic voice, every protest and courageous stand that speaks more truth to power - it’s on us to carry on the torch, carry the gospel of freedom, to raise up the prophetic visions, and to do all that we can to bring them home, to end the violence, to make sure everybody, everywhere,  is safe and secure, seen, loved, respected for being just like all of us - equally created in the image of the most sacred source of life. 

From the Isaiah steps in New York City, wishes of healing and hope, consolation and courage.

Shabbat Shalom.