Lectionary Reading:
Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV)
"Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
“Justice over Status Quo"
Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of “Sojourners” magazine. In an article in the May 1977 edition of the magazine, he shared some rather provocative thoughts. Recently, he shared the article again on the Sojourners website (www.sojo.net) as his reflection and commentary on the lectionary scripture above for this coming Sunday. What I found amazing is how that 33 year-old article resonated so deeply with me today. Below are three paragraphs from the article that stand out particularly for me particularly. In the first paragraph, Wallis comments,
“According to the scriptures, one cannot conceive of the possibility of relating to the Lord without relating to the purposes of the Lord. And conversely, to try and relate to the purposes of the Lord without relating to the Lord is also misguided and futile. The connection is clear between the personal character of one's relationship to Christ and the purpose of justice for which that relationship is given.”
Wallis then shared that,
“Laying down our lives for justice, for reconciliation, for liberation, and for healing among the nations is not merely an implication of the gospel; it is the gospel. And that is inseparable from being personally related to Jesus Christ; it is the purpose of that relationship. It seems to me that the connection between the anointing of the Spirit and radical participation in God's purposes is key to understanding our mission and identity as Christians.”
Lastly, in one of the closing paragraphs, Wallis comments,
“Clearly then, the vocation and the very identity of the Christian community is to lay down its life for the sake of bringing forth the purposes of God's justice in the world. When the church serves only itself, meeting only the needs of its own members, it has failed in its primary calling, which is to exist for the sake of the world. An exclusive, internal focus on its own life is nothing less than a betrayal of the identity and mission of the body of Christ.”
In my experience, the insights that Wallis shared three decades ago continue to have much relevance today. I say that because in my experience and the experience of many others, a great number of Christians continue to miss the point that the relationship Christ gives to us is first and foremost about making the world a just place for everyone. Yet many Christians confine their faith to the format of what amounts to a Sunday social club. And in regard to service to others, overwhelmingly it means members focusing on and serving each other. The concept therefore of laying down our lives for justice, reconciliation, liberation, compassion, healing and peace is so absolutely foreign that many Christians simply cannot relate. It’s a failing, as Wallis puts it, of faith communities not understanding their primary calling as Christians. Therefore the manner in which they choose to exist is nothing less than a betrayal of the relationship Christ has given as well as betrayal of the identity and mission of the body of Christ.
Wallis’ words are pretty stern, but from having been in his presence and having sat under his ministry and having been arrested in political protest alongside him, I have no doubt he meant such words thirty-three years ago and no doubt that he means them today given his choice to republish the article. Furthermore, having watched him call elected leaders and the Religious Right to accountability for behavior and ways of being contrary to justice, I’m certain he wouldn’t hesitate to repeat the above convictions face to face to any minister or pastor or judicatory official or denominational leader who decides to take the path of least resistance and let the status quo rule the day. Truth be told, countless thousands would stand in support at his side while he admonished people who should be living prophetic lives. Thank God that we manage to have people like Jim Wallis who are willing to stick out like a sore thumb and speak prophetically to all people of faith no matter what the cost.
As to my voice regarding such things, I am left to wonder why so many Christians allow the kind of Christianity that Wallis criticizes above. It’s an important question when one stops to consider the vast amount of resources being held and/or expended by faith communities for their own sustenance, their own benefit, their own ego, and their own enjoyment rather than valiantly expended those resources in liberating, reconciling, and healing our broken world. Any local Christians-Only Club leaves me anxious to find alternative forms of discipleship. I’m especially eager for these alternative forms when all about us in this world there are families who haven’t enough food to eat, who don’t have resources to see a doctor or get medicines or obtain adequate employment or education or are at risk of losing their homes or have no safe and secure housing or who have to take on debt they can’t afford to in order to pay for their needs. I am particularly restless about the use of resources for comfy forms of discipleship when we think about the hundreds of thousands, even millions of human beings who lives have been devastated by war, famine, tsunamis, hurricanes, and now the earthquake in Haiti that has claimed 200,000 lives that we know of so far. How is it that in the face of all these things, faith communities justify focusing and spending on themselves? Why aren’t we realigning our resources to maximize their impact for the common good? Why aren’t we breaking down the doors of our leaders and elected officials and demanding better from them? Why aren’t we holding protests at the city hall or state or national capitol until irresponsible selfish corporations and arrogant wealthy elite are brought to heel for their greed and abuse that have damaged and limited us all in terms of bettering and providing for the common good?
As I see it my friends, we need to reclaim authority even as Christ did and affirm to one another that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and has anointed us to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The year of the Lord’s favor applies today if we’re willing to claim. It applies whenever any of us have the courage to say that “the status quo shall not have place in my life” and then we literally move on from that situation of status quo. Those words were at the base of Jesus’ life and ministry and message and each one of us becomes Christ when those words stand at the very base of our lives, ministry, and message. In living out God’s favor and being restless and therefore like Christ in our unwillingness to simply let the status quo be, we can look to new forms of being the Body of Christ and thus transform the world. We can look to new possibilities like wraparound ministry as a form of congregational life (see http://peace-n-justice.blogspot.com/2009/11/wraparound-what-concept-for-sunday-nov.html).
We can also look to new forms that genuinely capture the imagination and commitment of younger generations for bettering the common good. In that regard, let us look at congregations like a Hispanic house church of 26 members in our community who meet regularly in a two bedroom apartment. Let’s look at how they provide social service to the community while supporting one another in distinct and concrete ways that keep their kids away from violent gangs. Let’s look at the lay minister-pastor whose message and mission and vision have been successful enough that two gangs asked him to help them find healthier ways of competing with each other rather than resorting to violence.
Or let’s look at the example of an Assembly of God minister who concluded that trying to get people to come to church was no longer working and no longer a useful strategy for bettering the common good. What did he do? He decided to provide “church” at a local sports bar on Sunday mornings. With support of the bar’s owner, the minister provided a worship service during the halftime break and he certainly had takers. And as you might imagine, he had to get comfortable with his church members drinking a beer during the service. Hey, if that’s a problem for you, just recall that Jesus was often at meals where wine was served. He even changed water into wine for one banquet and quite likely he drank wine himself.
The radicality of Jesus is what speaks to the world now rather than the sanitized Christ that much of the world has come to know in the centuries since the Crucifixion. Let us recapture that radicality. For those of us in the United States, some of us see that necessity of that having just observed Martin Luther King Jr Holiday in the United States. Many have expressed concern that we’re losing the radicality of King as one of Jesus’ followers, i.e. that the holiday is “sanitizing” the revered civil rights leader and stripping his memory of the fire and passion in message and ministry. They call us to recapture King’s energy and forthrightness in order to better the common good.
Resurrect Jesus’ radicality in your life, ministry, and message my friends especially when you’re face to face with people who simply want more of the same, i.e. more of the same that has done precious little to further the work of God’s Peaceable Kingdom here on earth. Do not allow the evil of maintaining the status quo when so many are suffering, living under oppression, or dying from injustice. You are the key to ending the world’s failure to take action. Do what you can wherever you can, knowing as Jesus did that the Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
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