A Pebble Cast Into a Pond (Part 2 of 3)

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(Read this series from its beginning here.)

In Matthew, Jesus blesses those whom the present system makes poor, those oppressed by this present world. God’s just society on earth is especially for them. Those hungering because of how this world is structured would be filled and satisfied. Those the present system causes to mourn, grieve, or weep would break out in joy and laughter for the world being put right. And those who would join him in standing up against injustice, who would choose to be hated by those benefitting from the present arrangement, who would choose being excluded, lied about, and insulted by the privileged for speaking out—they would be called blessed (Matthew 5:3-12). Those benefitting from the current world at others’ expense would find Jesus’ changes harder to embrace (Luke 6:24-26). Those well-fed in the present world would see Jesus’ teachings as a threat, not a blessing. 

Today, not much about social injustice has changed from the injustices at work when the Jesus story was written. Today we are still called not to be passive in regards to the injustice, oppression, and violence we see around us. In the words of Jon Sobrino, “The cross, for its part, tells of God’s affinity with victims” (Christ the Liberator: A View from the Victims, p. 88). We are called to this affinity as Jesus-followers, too.

It is past time for western Christianity to let go of a primary focus on an age to come and ask instead how Jesus’ teachings could save us from the evil present in this age. I’m reminded of the challenge Ida B. Wells made in Crusade for Justice: “Our American Christians are too busy saving the souls of White Christians from burning in hellfire to save the lives of Black ones from present burning in fires kindled by White Christians” (p. 154-155).

Will large sectors of Christians continue to miss the connection between the transformative, distributive, and restorative work we should be doing in our world today? Will we stop feeling as if any engagement with our social systems for justice, mercy, and peace in this world is others’ work but not ours?

We’ll discuss this next.