The City That Could Not Hide Its Hunger
Before the first train sighed beneath the city and before the early traffic began gathering itself along Constitution Avenue, Jesus stood alone near the Lincoln Memorial while the sky over Washington, DC was still dark enough to hold the last of the night. The long steps behind him were quiet. The air carried that cool edge that belongs only to the hour before dawn, when even a city built on urgency has not yet put its face on. Across the Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument stood pale and still, and the faint lights from distant buildings made the water look like it was keeping secrets. Jesus had come there before sunrise, not to be seen, not to make a moment of Himself, but to pray. He bowed His head and grew still in a way that made the whole space feel still with Him. Nothing around Him was dramatic. No wind rose. No sound interrupted the morning. He simply prayed with the kind of quiet that seemed deeper than silence, as if His heart had opened fully before the Father an...