Provocation

I still remember a television news clip years ago.  A Russian representative was shouting, "Anti-Sovietskii provokatsiya,"  anti-Soviet provocation.  The word comes from the Latin, pro + vocare,    before (someone) + to call out, and means to rouse or incite a response in people.  In last week's epistular reading, the unknown author of Hebrews  encourages his audience to "provoke one another to love and good deeds." [10:24]   What a remarkable statement!

I am sure that I regularly provoke people who don't agree with my view of the Gospel of Christ and its unmistakable political implications, and defriending has sometimes taken place. And much of the energy on Facebook seems to be devoted to provoking others to hatred, bigotry, and assimilation of fake news.   So I was already intrigued to think that the writer, probably Apollos, expected his people to provoke other people solely for the purpose of spreading love and doing good.  How can that be accomplished?  Well, it seems to me that we lead by example.  We can only provoke love in others by following Jesus' command to love others and especially our enemies.  That can be a hellishly difficult assignment and involves reaching out selflessly to show Christ-like behaviour towards them.  Provoking others to good works, likewise, incurs setting an example by doing good works which, for the Christian, means nothing less than working for the Reign of God, in which God's "will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  That does involve engaging the world and its political implications, however we try to run away from them, remain clear.  Whom have you provoked lately?