We know this story. A man is robbed and beaten, left for dead. Two walk by. Not only do they pass him, but they move to the other side of the road. Two who, if we are honest, were church folk. They had reasons for not helping, I’m sure. Even good, rational reasons for why they needed to keep going about their day, reasons bathed in the guiding lights of the status quo, privilege, and getting it “right.” Yet the outcast, the one without position or power, is the only one who stops, who serves, who saves, and who thus becomes the prophet to us all.

The question left to us becomes particularly critical in this season. After weeks of death, rage, and fire. Weeks that carry the frustration and anger of justice denied for far too long. Weeks that echo with the cries of a people too often bloodied, beaten, and left by the side of the road. The prophetic question, the crucial question crying out to us now, is this: what side of the road will we be on?

(Painting by Bertram Poole)