Pretending Jesus Was as Selfish as Us

By Josh Weisbrod in Deep Thoughts in Worship on 1/31/12

Recently I have seen a quote by Stephen Colbert start popping up all around major social media sites. In-case you don’t know who Colbert is, he can probably be described as a comedy news anchor and talk-show host. The quote is almost perfect in its sharpness, and I think most importantly it brings up a key issue within the Christian community. Here is the quote:
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”

That quote is pretty clever. If we claim to be Christians but don’t help the poor then we either need to pretend Jesus was selfish like us or we need to admit we are wrong but then tell the world we just don’t care.

I had originally started writing out a long blog about the philosophy of justice, but it is really much more simple than all that. The reality is that I don’t need to quote some Socratic argument or Utilitarian principle because the Bible has so clearly stated both where God stands on the issue of social justice and how we as Christians are supposed to respond to it. I think maybe my hurdle in this understanding was just that I spent too much time studying philosophy and not enough time getting my hands dirty in this area. What it really took was reading through Old Testament books like Joel, Amos, Micah, Zechariah and seeing how the lack of justice and mercy was what angered God like nothing else, and then seeing how at every turn Jesus, in the New Testament, was using these words to teach those around him.

In Micah chapter 6 it says:
6 With what shall I come before the LORD
  and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
  with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
  with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
  the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
  And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
  and to walk humbly with your God.

In Amos chapter 5 it says:
21 “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
  your assemblies are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
  I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
  I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
  I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
  righteousness like a never-failing stream!

When I read these words it shakes me, especially the one from Amos. As a worship leader I can’t imagine anything worse than God saying, “ENOUGH! I don’t want your singing”. I think a major cultural flaw is that we view justice as revenge against others who have harmed us, but we don’t look at how we are supposed to treat others. We highly value ourselves, and so respond in anguish when oppressed, but we chose to ignore the cries of even our neighbors. When God is saying act justly He is saying that we should show mercy to others. In Zechariah 7:9-10 it says, “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” To God true justice is showing mercy and compassion to others, specifically the poor and helpless.

One of the many parables Jesus shared in order to teach on this was the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12. “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
I love the personal sense of urgency this provides. I love that what Jesus is saying is DON’T WAIT! He didn’t command us to act justly towards people when we get enough money to make a sizable donation. God didn’t ask us to act justly to the poor when the time is just perfect in our lives for a little free time. Jesus modeled a life of service, mercy, and compassion to the poor and then said “your turn”. What we do for those that God loves we do for Him. If we act justly and show mercy and compassion then we are acting justly to God. If we store up our wealth and time and neglect the poor and needy then we are neglecting God.

It is our choice to show how much we love the Lord, because he has already shown how infinite His love is for us.

I will leave you with one last passage from Matthew 25
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

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