It Is What It Is

It Is What It Is

Posted by Pastor Dave on January 7th, 2012 | 0 Comments

"It is what it is." I am hearing this statement a lot these days, in numerous contexts. Odd. And I am not sure I like it!

It seems to me that this can rationalize things that ought not to be rationalized—things like injustice, abuse, incompetence, laziness—and the list goes on.

I came across this quote:

For the prophets, therefore, imagination takes precedence over the sheerly factual, "what must be" takes priority over "what is." The universe must yield place not only to laws of large numbers and immemorial tradition, but also to minorities of one or more that subvert a ruling order.

There must be time and space, that is to say, not only for the indicative mood of what is everlastingly the case, but also for the subjunctive and imperative moods of what might be, could be, and must be—the reign of God—against all odds.*

The Old Testament prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Hosea, Amos) were all about correcting "what is." Things like: the abuse of power by Israelite kings, the embracing of false gods and their idols and worship centres (called "high places"), the marginalizing and trampling of the poor, orphan and widow, the accumulation and uneven distribution of wealth, legalistic and hypocritical piety, failing to keep Sabbath, and more.

In the world of "it is what it is" these kinds of voices are at best tolerated and then discarded, or at worst, silenced. Daniel Berrigan writes, "These minor objectors to the system ('things as they are') –their reservations will be duly recorded; written on water so to speak. Nods of respect will greet them, placations, attentive ears. And nothing will change, not a whit."**

As the church and people of the kingdom of God we are called to the prophets, and to the prophet of prophets—Jesus of Nazareth. "Blessed are the poor in spirit" are the opening words of the most powerful sermon ever preached or recorded. Somehow, when he speaks to those who claim to be his followers, "it is what it is" is not something we hear.

*David Toolan, "Spiritualities in a Post-Einsteinian Universe," quoted in Daniel Berrigan, The Kings and Their Gods: The Pathology of Power (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008), p. 173. The indicative mood in English grammar describes what is; the subjunctive mood describes what ought, might, or could be; and the imperative mood describes what must be.

**The Kings and Their Gods, p. 174.

Tags: prophets, complacency, change