Trouble-makers or Prophets & Visionaries?

‘In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
    and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.

                    Acts 2: 17 NRSVue

“Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble...

John Lewis, civil rights leader 

During the past two weeks we;ve been watching the spread and growth of protests on college and university campuses in the United States. They are responses to the war in Gaza which began after the Hamas terrorist launched brutal attacks on Israili citizens killing 1200 and taking hundreds prisoner. The response by Israel during the past seven months has reduced Gaza to rubble, resulted in 34,000 deaths and bringing hundreds of thousands to the edge of starvation. The protests are about this retributive war and the provision of billions of dollars in aid to the Israeli military by the United States government. While the Biden administration has cautioned the Netanyahu government of Israel about its aggression it has not stopped the misery and death.. 

What has unfolded is fascinating because efforts to end or suppress the protests have only served to deepen the resolve of ther students who are participating. If I read correctly, the first was at the venerable Columbia University but they have spread across the country. In some circumstances police, including riot squads, have been instructed to break up encampments and arrest the young people involved. This hasn't worked, as it rarely does. 

So many thoughts arise as I hear about what is happening. I'm old enough to remember the anti-Vietnam War campus protests in the US. I was a teen and I had cousins old enough for the draft. I saw the news footage of the National Guard shooting and killing protestors at Kent State University. 

I was too young to be aware of the courageous young people who were Freedom Riders in the American South during the Civil Rights Movement, some of whom were murdered. 

Protesting the conventions and the status quo of the establishment is often risky business. Think of Arab Spring and the more recent Iranian protests.  Even when there isn't the threat of violence there can be censure and the possiblity of humiliation. The MeToo movement and Black Lives Matters and even Fridays for Future come to mind. In most instances young people are at the forefront in movements for meaningful societal change. 

I'm also thinking about those who gathered around Jesus, who was no spring chicken when he began his ministry at thirty, but attracted disciples who were likely in their twenties. The energy and passion of youth is key to overcoming to challenging the entropy of the established order, including in religion. 

Will the current protests make a difference? Perhaps not, although these students have decided to stand up and be counted. Are they prophetic or misguided? God only knows. 

Thank God for prophets and visionaries in every age.