Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD GOD!
And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
Profiles in Courage is a 1956 volume of short biographies describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators. Then-Senator John F. Kennedy won the Pulitzer Prize for the work. The book profiles senators who defied the opinions of their party and constituents to do what they felt was right and suffered severe criticism and losses in popularity because of their actions.
Those Senators were not unlike the Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures whose courageous exploits are enshrined in God’s revealed word. Ezekiel, as the conscience of his people, heard his divine mandate from the Lord himself as he was commissioned to speak the Lord’s word of truth to those ‘obstinate of heart.’
Each of us, I’m confident can name contemporary profiles in courage drawn from the daily news. These are the women and men who are grounded in the truth and whose essential raison d’etre is not fame or fortune, career advancement or holding tenaciously to positions of power or authority, but rather are shaped by integrity and a passion for the truth.
I cannot help but think of those police officers who, though outnumbered by insurrectionists, bravely and courageously fought to defend our elected officials and the symbol of our democracy, the Capitol Building, on January 6th.
I cannot help but think of the countless first responders who have toiled in Seaside Park, Florida, hour after hour, searching the rubble of the collapsed condominium as fading hope pushes them in their search of victims, living or dead.
I cannot help but think of the few members of Congress whose party leadership have ostracized them for standing up to the lies that are undermining the very foundations of our Nation.
My friends, Jesus said it best when he challenged his hearers with the timeless truth, “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world but loses his soul in the end.”
As we celebrate today our Nation’s Independence, an independence gained by countless men and women of self-less courage, let us pray for the grace, strength and wisdom to be that Prophetic witness in our world today: telling people what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear as we speak the truth in love.