Was

Jesus a Prophet for Young Jewish Men Only?

Responses to Rachel Hackenberg

By Jane Gilgun

Rachel Hackenberg wrote a blog recently where she stated that white preachers cannot be
prophets when it comes to issues related to being black in the U.S. today. My first thought is
that we must respond from the pulpit to the upheavals that are happening across the
country. Preaching is a powerful response.

I am unsure of what Hackenberg means by the word prophet
because she does not say. Perhaps she shares Walter
Brueggemans definition of persons with prophetic imaginations:
they know pain and suffering in their hearts, speak out about
them, and propose ways of dealing constructively with them. In
this essay, I consider the issues she raised and discuss
Brueggemanns definition as a way of thinking about
contemporary prophecy and preaching. I also wonder whether
the privileges we have as white people can potentially add to the
effectiveness of our preaching. We know what privileges have
done for us, and we want everyone else to have privileges, too.

Hackenbergs main points appear to be that white people do not live the lives of black
people, and we therefore cannot be prophets for black people. She also said that white
people must reflect upon what it means to be white and how we have the privileges that we
do.

She gave white people roles of allies when she said, The kingdom of God for which the
true prophets are now in the streets crying out, demanding, will upend our white world no
matter how much we believe ourselves to be allies. She also gave white roles of penitents:
Perhaps we can participate in that coming kingdom, but we do so in a confessional
posturenot a prophetic stance.

Upending the White World

Hackenberg makes some good points, while others are questionable and require
elaboration if they are to be helpful in moving us toward a more just and caring society,
which is a secular synonym for kingdom of God. Yes, white people do not know what it is
like to live as black people in the United States. I believe we would be fortunate if our white
world were upended and became a just and caring society.

Reflections on Being White

Yes, we must reflect upon what it means to be white and its privileges. Our reflections will
show us that white people have power, how we gained this power, and how we benefit
from white privilege and power. There are uncountable examples. I attended the Catholic
University of Louvain in Belgium for $90 a year. Why so cheap? Because Belgium is a rich
country as a result of exploiting the people in Congo. My experiences at Louvain were
wonderful and life changing. At the same time, I am a penitent because I had this privilege.
Part of my vocation as a social worker and as a deacon in formation is fueled by this and
other privileges I have had. I want other people to have the privileges that I have had and
that glow in my heart.

Another example is the origins of the food we eat. Who got paid how much? How hard did
they work? Under what conditions? Who took advantage of whom to make money? The
human costs of our food and the impact of agriculture on our planet should give us pause
and fuel our desire to change social conditions that lead to these issues.

Confessional Posture

Reflections on being white can lead to a confessional posture that Hackenberg said is the
role of white people in issues related to black people. This is an excellent point, but short-
sighted. She neglects to state that confession leads to penitence, forgiveness, redemption,
resurrection, and then to love and then to actions that show our love. This is one of
Christianitys grand narratives. If white people stay in confessional modes not only are we
stuck but we are ineffective. We dont put our power and privilege to work for a just cause,
which is the transformation of society. Clearly, we have more than a confessional role in the
issues with which African Americans contend and more than a confessional role in bringing
about a just and caring world.

In addition, confessional postures can lead to gratitude for what we have. Gratitude can
potentially add to the effectiveness of our preaching and other actions. When we are
grateful for what privileges have done for us, we may want everyone else to have
privileges, too. Good educations, health care, safe neighborhoods, career advancement, to
name just a few privileges that are more open to white people than to African Americans
and other people whose heritage is other than European American.

Being white is a passport to privilege. In general, white people do have an easier time that
others from other ethnic groups. Statistics on racial disparities bear this out as do
observations of American life and the testimonies of many people over time.

Allies

Hackenbergs depiction of white people as allies was dismissive. There is no need to
dismiss the efforts of white people in order to honor black people. As Hackenberg wrote
her blog, she must not have thought about the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt,
John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson or the unnamed thousands of people engaged in the

underground railroad during the American Civil War. I wonder how she would view the
two white men, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who along with James Cheney,
a black man, were murdered in Mississippi in 1964 for their civil rights activism. Or all the
other white people who gave their lives and their energy to civil rights efforts. Countless
people are and were allies. Are their actions central to civil rights or peripheral? Worthy of
being minimized and dismissed? I believe that they and people like them had and have
central roles as allies; their actions cannot be dismissed but are to be celebrated. They are
to be held up as icons.

Prophetic Imagination

I wish Hackenberg had said what she means by the word prophet. Walter Brueggemann
describes the prophetic imagination as characteristic of persons who see, understand, and
experience the pain and suffering in the world, who see the sources of pain and suffering,
and who offer a vision of something better. Is someone with a prophetic imagination a
prophet? I dont know. For me, I am more comfortable describing myself as possibly having
a prophetic imagination at times. Its much more difficult to call myself a prophet.

As do many spiritual leaders, Brueggemann describes a path for us to develop prophetic
imaginations. In a poem called People of Many Secrets, he reflects upon the kinds of
suffering that everyone experiences, each in our own ways. In order for us to understand
the pain and suffering of others, we must know our own pain and suffering and not keep
them a secret from ourselves, which we often do without realizing it. Prayer, meditation,
and spiritual direction help us to uncover our secrets. As spiritual leaders point out, doing
so is difficult and painful; we relive the suffering that earlier in our lives was so painful that
we repressed it.

According to Christian thought, none of our secrets are hidden from God. Brueggeman said
our secrets are our truths. We must tell them for the sake of our own lives and for the lives
of others. Brueggeman provides a list of our secrets that are our truths: grief unresolved,
pain unacknowledged, fear, hate, being taken advantage of, being used, and
manipulated, and slandered. We become free when we know our own truths, own them,
and know that God knows our secrets that are also our truths.

With Gods help, we get to know ourselves. As we know ourselves, we become more
centered and more peaceful. We also deepen our capacities for empathy. We can in our
imaginations walk a mile in the shoes of others. We are positioned to develop a prophetic
imagination. We are not perfect at it, but we can get better at it as we pray, meditate, and
grow spiritually.

With God's help, we also get to know how our privileges as white people have enhanced
our lives. This awareness adds further fuel to our desires to contribute to a just and caring
society. It simply is unfair that so many human beings suffering unnecessarily when the
doors of privilege open easily for some and open with difficulty, if at all, for so many others.

 Tapping Into Our Own Prophetic Imaginations

We dont end, there, however, just as Jesus did not. Breuggeman called Jesus the best kept
secret of hurt. The crucifixion and the cross are representations of hurt. Jesus also
experienced incarnation and resurrection which all of us share with no exceptions. He
embodied the love of God. He changed human history If we experience the cross,
resurrection, and incarnation deep within, as we experience God's love, we are in touch
with the processes that may lead to capacities for prophetic imagination and actions that
change unjust social structures and processes.

If in our sermons we dig deep, we can tap into our own prophetic imaginations. We can
bring the needs of the worldthe world of hurt, exclusion, and oppressionto the
members of our faith communities. We can do so by grounding ourselves in our own hurt
and telling stories in our sermons about our own hurt (very briefly as sermons are not
about us) and the hurt in the world. When we speak from our hearts, we may touch the
hearts of others and lead them to uncover their own hurts and their own truths. We can
take such stances when we preach about what is happening in the African American
community today. I believe this is an effective stance, the best we can do. No matter what
race we are, if we speak from our hearts, we will touch the hearts of others. Maybe that has
to be enough.

What we say and do through our prophetic imaginations are unique to us, yet what we say
when we actually are embodying prophesy is grounded in our own suffering, our empathy
for the suffering of others, and our vision of something better. Jesus was not blind, deaf,
lame, or old, nor was he a Gentile or a woman. He was a prophet for them and for all of us.
Was Jesus a prophet for young Jewish men only?

References

Brueggemann, Walter (2001). Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter
Brueggemann (Kindle Locations 238-244). Kindle Edition.
Brueggemann, Walter (2001) The Prophetic Imagination (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress.
Hackenberg, Rachel (2014). Dear White Preachers, Take Off Your Prophets Mantle,
December 11. http://rachelhackenberg.com/dear-white-preachers-take-off-your-
prophets-mantel/

About the Author

Jane F. Gilgun, PhD, LICSW, is a professor of social work and a deacon in formation in the
Episcopal Church.