The Gospel and Social Justice, Part 3: Good News for the Whole World – No Exceptions.

In Part 1 of this series, I said that we are blessed when we selflessly choose to be blessing to others. Part 2 looked at the miracles that we see happening everyday when God’s people choose to love as Jesus loved. I would like to conclude with a discussion of the hope that Jesus brings to the poor, the oppressed, and the whole world, and our calling as the Church to make this hope real.[1]

Recently, I participated in a discussion on an internet forum about the biggest issues facing American Christians today. The conversation was sparked by a professing atheist, who suggested that biggest five issues for Christians were:

1. Evolution in schools.
2. Sex Education in school.
3. Gay Marriage.
4. The "dissent" of television.
5. The poor opinion the world has about many Christians.[2]

Sadly, the Christians who responded to this, by and large agreed that this or some similar formulation indeed represents the most important issues that we, as Christians, in America face. I don’t want to belittle these issues (or other issues, such as the environment, HIV/AIDS, etc.) as unimportant. However, I see many of these issues and other as mere symptoms of greater shortcomings and signposts to greater issues.

The main issue that I believe that we as American Christians face is the same as it has been for all followers of Jesus for the last 2000 years: advancing the Kingdom of God and proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to all people. Jesus introduced his ministry as one that would “bring good news to the poor. . . . 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.”[3] Jesus confirmed in this that the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Jacob, is concerned, above all else, with defending the vulnerable, the oppressed, and the innocent. This is a theme seen throughout the Old Testament and made fresh through the ministry of Jesus and the Early Church.

We serve a God who loves the world deeply, but especially those who are in the greatest need. It is tempting for me, at this point, to throw at the reader a long list of Scripture passages illustrating God’s heart for the poor, the oppressed, and the vulnerable. But, God’s compassion so pervades the pages of the Bible that I think that this point is not easily missed by any serious student of the Scriptures. This point is echoed by Jesus as He concludes his teaching ministry, as recorded by Matthew.[4] He tells us that whenever we do an act kindness for one of the least of his brothers or sisters, we do it for him.[5] He warns us, however, of the eternal punishment awaiting those who turn away his poorest and most vulnerable brothers and sisters.[6]

Essentially, Jesus begins and ends his ministry declaring God’s love for the weak, the poor, the vulnerable, and the oppressed. He begins by declaring that the people such as these are the very reason he came to be among us. He ends by calling all of us to serve them with the same selfless love that he did. Jesus’ younger brother, James, further reminds us that this remains one of our key purposes in the world: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”[7] We are called to love and serve as God loves and serves, not to show favoritism to those who can repay us for our kindness, but rather to give generously especially to those who can never repay us in kind. When we, the Church, live up to this calling, we will see with clarity the Kingdom of God, and we will see healing in all aspects of our lives and of our society.

We live in a very broken world. Problems like poverty, warfare, religious persecution, and preventable diseases (not the least of which is HIV/AIDS) destroy far too many lives. For example, estimates are that 26,000 children, under the age of 5, die every day due to poverty related causes.[8] As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are called to care about this and to do what we can to show God’s love to a hurting world. We are called to be bearers of good news to the whole world – no exceptions.

[1] My apologies that it took almost two weeks to get this entry posted. Something about it was not sitting right with my Spirit, so I chose to take some extra time to pray and meditate on the topic prior to posting.
[2] http://www.christianforums.com/t7360558/
[3] Luke 4:18-19 (quoting Isaiah 61:1-2)(All Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted).
[4] Matthew 25:31-46
[5] Paraphrase of Matthew 25:40
[6] Matthew 25:45-46
[7] James 1:27
[8] See video posted at http://www.30hourfamine.org/