Killing the Prophets

Gospel: Luke 9: 7-9

Herod is curious about Jesus.  Men of power in the world are often interested in Jesus.  But their curiosity is always about their own self-interest: how can they use the power of Jesus to their own advantage.  How can they monetize the message, or use Jesus' star power to advance their own power and prestige in the world?  It is this aspect that provides us with another way in which prophets are killed beyond the mere physical execution of their lives.

In the case of Jesus, he is put to death in a thousand ways each day.  Every time another person is unjustly treated, imprisoned, killed, or manipulated, Jesus is put to death.  Every time the name of Jesus is used to justify empire, revolution, marginalization, and manipulation, Jesus is put to death.  Every time the name of Jesus is used for the monetization of one's cottage industry or media empire that only seeks power and wealth, Jesus is put to death.  

Jesus went about healing everyone he met of their infirmities.  He liberated them from the demons that held them bound.  He nourished and fed people at table.  Jesus invited others to see what he did, then he invited them to do the same, all within a life of simplicity and detachment from power and possessions.  That is the Jesus who continues to rise from the dead in the lives of those who imitate him.  That is the Jesus who rises from the thousand deaths he experiences each day.  That is the Jesus who lives, the Jesus who gives life.