Editorial October 5, 1992 Issue

Not what's ahead, but what's at hand

Russ Gerber

The woman outside the pastry shop said rather grimly, "It's going to be a long, miserable season." It was the kind of remark you overhear without giving it much attention. Yet it came on the heels of other comments similar in nature that I'd heard over the weekend. One had to do with inevitable deterioration, one with imminent personal loss, another with injustice that was to be expected. Taken all together, it wasn't a very inspiring look ahead.

As I was thinking about these snippets from various conversations, a couple of other statements came to my attention. Both were made by Christ Jesus and are included in the Gospel of Matthew. One is "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." The other is "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."

We're not likely to think of predictions picked up in random conversations as prophecies exactly. Still, the definition fits. One dictionary defines prophecy as "any prediction." Perhaps the casual, innocent way these predictions are made is a kind of "sheep's clothing" that would have them appear to be harmless. But are they?

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