C. Anthony Hunt says a preacher’s call to speak on issues of social and political concern is rooted in biblical tradition. He shares specific strategies Jesus used to highlight injustice, empower change, and transform people and communities.
Should it ever be the preacher’s role to speak to issues of social and political concern, or are preachers only to speak of spiritual, priestly, and pastoral matters? How might preachers today balance their pastoral and priestly functions with prophetic voice?
The nature of prophetic preaching
Prophetic preaching and leadership essentially pertain to that which calls persons, the church, and socio-political structures back into a relationship with God, and paves the way for the in-breaking of the kin-dom of God. Prophetic preaching and leadership are rooted in the Old Testament biblical traditions and the public ministries of the likes of John the Baptist.
It was generally the task of biblical prophets to speak to real spiritual and social conditions that existed among Hebrew people and their communities—and to call people back into a covenant relationship with God. Thus, the biblical prophets stood with one foot in the past—reminding Israel of its history with God—and with the other foot in the future, reminding people of their current spiritual and social condition, and of God’s promise and hope for their future.
Biblical prophets also had one foot in the religious community, and the other foot in the public square. Thus, the paradigm for the biblical prophetic preacher is a dialectical paradigm that holds in tension history, here, and hope—past, present, and promise.
Jesus as prophetic preacher and leader
Prophetic preaching and leadership also model the ministry of Jesus who engaged the religious and social concerns of his day. Jesus heralded his divine purpose and mission when he declared in Luke 4:18-19 that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for [God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. [God] has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Obery Hendricks, in his book The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted, proposes that seven political strategies characterize the prophetic and revolutionary politics of Jesus. These strategies are: (1) Treat people’s needs as holy. (2) Give a voice to the voiceless. (3) Expose the working of oppression. (4) Call the demon by name. (5) Save your anger for the mistreatment of others. (6) Take blows without returning them. (7) Don’t just explain the alternative, show it.
In Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman asks a haunting question (especially) for persons of faith. “What does Jesus of Nazareth have to say to those who have their backs against the wall?” What did Jesus have to say about the way those who were poor and otherwise marginalized and disinherited in his day were treated? Jesus offered an answer:
“… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me… and ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:42-43)
Four ways Jesus’ prophetic ministry transformed lives and social structures
In The Empowerment Church, Carlyle Fielding Stewart asserts that Jesus’ ministry demonstrated empowerment. Stewart points to four specific ways that the ministry of Jesus proved to be a ministry of empowerment and, by extension, transformation.
1. Jesus taught people foundational principles of spirituality that enabled them to see their spiritual traditions in new ways and to conceptualize new possibilities of God in new spiritual frameworks.
2. Jesus’ ministry transformed people’s spiritual perception and understanding of God through personal revelation, intervention, and interaction with people. Encountering Jesus meant that people were compelled to alter their ideas of God.
3. Jesus transformed the concept of people in a relationship with God. They no longer viewed themselves as passive objects of God’s will or as people wholly incapable of positively influencing their social environment and milieu. They saw themselves as cointentional catalysts for positive change.
4. Jesus directly, as well as vicariously, transformed communities by providing individuals with the spiritual elements of positive change and renewal. Not only did the recipients of Jesus’ power and grace experience change within, but their communities were also changed by the power of their testimonies of Christ’s work in their lives.
Prophetic preaching and leadership speak holistically to the existential concerns of people and communities. They speak to hurts and hopes and ultimately challenge the status quo with the expectation of deliverance and liberation from oppression for God’s people. For these reasons, prophetic preaching is part of a pastor’s spiritual leadership.
Adapted from Redeeming the Dream: Essays and Other Writings on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Social Justice (Wyndham Hall Press, 2023) by C. Anthony Hunt. Used by permission. The book is available at Amazon.
Related Resources
- Martin Luther King Jr.’s 4 Key Principles of Prophetic Witness by Tony Hunt
- Engaging in the Public Sphere featuring Kevin Slayton — Watch the Leading Ideas Talks podcast video | Listen to the podcast audio version | Read the in-depth interview
- Tackling Tough Topics in Church featuring Elizabeth Hagan — Listen to the Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode | Read the transcript
