Advent - First Move

Jesus chose to live here

Photo credit: Jonathan McIntosh

How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains    the feet of a messenger who announces       peace, a messenger who brings good news,      who announces deliverance,      who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen, your watchmen shout;   in unison they shout for joy, for they see with their very own eyes    the Lord’s return to Zion. In unison give a joyful shout,     ruins of Jerusalem! 
For the Lord consoles his people;    he protects Jerusalem. The Lord reveals his royal power     in the sight of all the nations; the entire earth sees    our God deliver.

Isaiah 52.7 - 10

Advent, as we noted in the introduction to this series, originally referred to a state visit by the Roman Emperor. For him, messengers would have been sent out far and wide, preparations would have been going on for months, and everyone would know that Caesar Augustus was coming.

For the official state visit of the High King of the Universe there had indeed been an announcement -- but it was made to unknown peasant women.  And preparations were certainly being made, but they were being made in the womb of an unmarried teenage girl.

Make no mistake: The Lord was certainly "returning to Zion" and he would "reveal his royal power" in ways that still reverberate today.  The announcement found in today's scripture would come true; everyone who cared to look would know that God reigns. But the way the Messiah went about mounting his revolution was totally unexpected in almost every respect.

We're all familiar with how this plays out: Mary and Joseph, because of Caesar's orders, must travel 90 miles to an unfamiliar town, live with the work animals, and as a result the transcendent God who normally lives in unapproachable glory is born in a mule's feed box. Then they return to the minuscule, hardscrabble village of Nazareth where Jesus grows up among a few hundred people, most of them barely able to scrape together enough of a living to survive day by day.

But wait a minute. This is the Son of the all-powerful God we're talking about. This was not by chance. His birth could have occurred under any circumstances he desired -- in a palace, in a room at the temple, in the home of a prosperous merchant. Even an ordinary, fairly comfortable home would have been a step up. Perhaps Joseph could have worked a choice carpentry job for a wealthy client before leaving for Bethlehem so he and Mary could have a few hundred denarii in their pockets. With the wave of his hand God could easily have made this story much different.

But that is not how the Messiah wanted to come into this world. Instead he thought it was of supreme importance to be incarnated among the poor and the powerless.

Think about that. What does this say about the kind of God we Christians worship?

All throughout the Hebrew scriptures God had shown intense concern with the weakest members of society. "Don’t oppress the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor..." his prophets had cried.  Now, in his inaugural act as Messiah (an unborn act, no less), he freely chooses to become one of them.

Yes, this is God's strategy for invading the world and fomenting revolution, for founding the Kingdom of God. This King has chosen to stand up from among the weak and helpless of the world whose ranks he purposefully joined and, "announce peace... announce deliverance... and say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"

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Father of the Fatherless, Advocate of the poor, thank you for becoming one of us at our most abject. In all we do enable us to proclaim peace, deliverance, and Jesus' reign.  It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.

Footsteps of the Poor

You will keep in perfect peace
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
He humbles those who dwell on high,
    he lays the lofty city low;
he levels it to the ground
    and casts it down to the dust.
Feet trample it down—
    the feet of the oppressed,
    the footsteps of the poor.

--The Prophet Isaiah 26.3-16, New International Version

Siblings

When we started out all those years ago, this is what members of the Christian movement were known for. Is it still?

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So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

 Letter to the Galatians 6.10

The Christians love one another. They do not neglect widows. Orphans they rescue from those who are cruel to them. Every one of them who has anything gives without reserve to the one who has nothing. If they see a traveling stranger they bring them under their roof. They rejoice over them as over a real brother or sister, for they do not call one another brothers and sisters after the flesh, but they know they are siblings in the Spirit and in God.

If one of them sees that one of their poor must leave this world, they provide for their burial as well as possible. And if they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed by their opponents for the sake of their Christ’s name, all of them take care of all that person's needs. If possible they set them free.

If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for them. In this way they can supply any poor person with the food they need.

Apology of Aristides, Chapter 15 (c. AD 124)

All Set Up

Matthew, the gospel author,  was quite a skillful writer. In the first chapter we find this famous quote:

"She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us,” (Gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verses 21-23).

Then he bookends that with another statement in the last chapter from Jesus himself: "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age," (Matthew chapter 28 verses 19-21).

The prophetic promise of "God with us" is confirmed and fulfilled by the risen Jesus of Nazareth to whom "all authority in heaven and on earth has been given."

Set Up

Nope

Photo by Jericho

So we should be all set up, right? The Messiah whom we follow now has all power and is High King of the universe. And we are constantly being told that we are "in Christ" (e.g., 2nd Letter to the Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17) -- that we belong to and are in union with the Messiah. From now on it'll be smooth sailing, the best of everything -- riches, mansions, perfect health, a Rolex and a Lamborghini or two. All to be used in the spread of the gospel, of course. What better way to attract people to Jesus than to show how blessed Christians are?

C. S. Lewis was once asked, "Which of all the religions of the world gives to its followers the greatest happiness?"

"The greatest happiness?" he replied, "While it lasts the religion of worshiping oneself is best!... If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity." (God in the Dock, "Answers to Questions on Christianity," question 11).

The Christian movement is a group of people who have thrown in our lot with the King of the universe alright, but he is a King who walked a hard road and was executed in a particularly gruesome way. By his own choice he lived among the poor, the hungry, the ill, the downtrodden. And he did not set himself up as a special case; Jesus makes living the same way a test of our Christianity.

So we don't find the leaders of the early Christian movement living in marble palaces overlooking Nazareth and spending their days in strategy sessions moving little gold crosses around on a map. Instead we find them constantly on the move, being beheaded, enduring beatings, stonings, and shipwrecks. We find them in ragged clothes and considered the dregs of the earth.

Jesus' later followers got much the same, both the leaders and the rank and file. The movement continued to follow Jesus' demand that we care for the suffering, poor, and imprisoned. Interestingly, they also took on the job of freeing slaves wherever they could.

With Us

God is with us, just as he promised, down to the very end. But for those who want to find out what Christianity really is (the purpose of this site), it's important to know what you're getting into. The Christian way is full of joy too, and joy of an intensity and endurance unavailable anywhere else. But it is not designed to make us rich, popular, and happy.

If  you happen to live in a well off culture with a social safety net and the expectation of iPads and smartphones, it is possible to think of joining the Christian movement as rather like joining a Gym. You pay your dues, you try to attend on a regular basis and focus while you're there, and you reap the benefits. Maybe it helps you to have "your best life now." But the focus is on what it does for you. Which is entirely appropriate for a gym membership, but not for following Jesus of Nazareth.

Hardships and pain can and do happen to Jesus' followers and he honestly is always with us, but he is with us through the events of life, not insulating us from them.

As St. Paul put it, “If we are to enter God’s kingdom, we must pass through many troubles.”

Bottom Line

Some people think Pope Francis is a marxist, socialist, radical for his idea of restructuring the global economy so that it revolves around human need rather than "the bottom line." This may be true, but he is in good company.

A girl in India

Courtesy of Varun Chatterji

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead,
those who are always instituting unfair regulations,
to keep the poor from getting fair treatment,
and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice,
so they can steal what widows own,
and loot what belongs to orphans.
What will you do on judgment day,
when destruction arrives from a distant place?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?

(Book of the Prophet Isaiah 10.1 - 3, NET)

The Gospel Truth About Social Justice

This is my first post for Synchroblog, a little community of Christian blogs that post on a particular subject each month. Read more about it here and (assuming you're on Facebook) here. This month our topic is "Social Justice -- What is it really?." The Synchoblogs who posted are listed at the bottom of this post for you to peruse. Visit them all! We're an interesting and eclectic group!

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I have a problem with Social Justice.

If you try to research the term on the Internet you won't read long before learning that, while most people agree it probably includes things like helping the hungry and ending discrimination, there's no broadly accepted definition of what it is or the best way to do it. Some scholars even feel that when you analyze it the phrase itself is nonsensical, "like the term 'a moral stone."

But that's not what my problem is.

It's also not that the phrase tends to be identified with one side of the political spectrum or that, as a writer, I find it awkward and non-euphonious. It's hard to write stirring prose using a clunky, two-part, technical term. One doesn't find "social justice" in many poems.

No, my problem is that Jesus' followers (myself included) use it at all.

I was at an informal meeting a few years ago where we talked about the church's responsibilities to the city, the people around us. One snippet of the conversation that has always stuck with me went something like this:

Person #1: "I've been seeing so many more people out on the street lately because of this economy, even some families. We really need to devote more of our resources to the social justice needs in this area."

More Official Person: "I'd really love to but funds are limited. Right now we need to devote the bulk of what we have to proclaiming the Gospel." 

Actually I think he called it the Evangelism budget.

I understand the need to have an efficient budget that accurately reflects your situation (I was a non-profit Debt Counselor for 7 years so I've built a lot of budgets), but the unconscious decoupling of social justice and the Gospel as two distinct things really bothers me.

The Gospel and social justice are the same thing. Or rather, wherever the Great Announcement of Christ's Gospel "happens," there the thing most of us mean by social justice also "happens" (or should).

Let me explain what I mean.

God's Kingdom has always been bound up with what we delineate today as social justice. The ancient Israelites sang of a God who, "protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows," and who incorporated care for the poor into his law (here, here, and here, for instance). His prophets inveighed against the wealthy oppressing the poor and disadvantaged: "Exercise true judgment and show brotherhood and compassion to each other. You must not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor, nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being." (Prophecy of Zechariah chapter 7 verses 8-12, NET).

Jesus of Nazareth came as Israel's long awaited Messiah announcing that the Kingdom of God was almost here. As he did he invited everyone in, particularly the sick, the hungry, the poor, sinners, and other "undesirables." Nobody was exempt. Jesus famously proclaimed, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

When he rode into Jerusalem and fought the Messiah's prophesied climactic battle against the enemies of the Israel, the weapons he used were completely unexpected.

"Instead of the usual military revolt, it was time to show the pagans what the true God was really like, not by fighting and violence but by loving one's enemies, turning the other cheek, going the second mile. This was the challenge which Jesus issued in a series of teachings that we call the 'sermon on the mount.'"

(N.T. Wright, Simply Christian, p. 101)

Today, on the other side of that battle, with Jesus enthroned as High King of the Universe, we who follow him fight to advance his Kingdom using the same unconventional weapons he used: Love, service, and self-sacrifice -- healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, and casting out demons -- feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and inviting everyone without exemption into the Kingdom of God. This is how the Gospel is proclaimed.

As one of my favorite writers, Eberhard Arnold, said, "The injustice of the world -- sin itself -- is the disease of the world's soul that leads to death. Our mission on behalf of the Kingdom is to be the salt of the earth: to stem its injustice, prevent its decay, and hinder its death." (Eberhard Arnold, Salt and Light, p. 61).

Social justice is not a program or priority, not for us. It is what happens when the Gospel of the Kingdom touches human need.

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October 2013 Synchrobloggers

• K.W. Leslie – Social Justice and Social Darwinism 
• Jeremy Meyers – Did Jesus Teach Social Justice? 
• Glenn Hager – Notes on Not Saving the World 
• J.A. Carter – The Gospel Truth About Social Justice
• Sherri Huleatt – Sex Trafficking: the Story of a Young Girl, the Problem of a Generation
• Edwin Pastor Fedex Aldrich – Social Justice or Social Programs
• LIz Dyer – A Social Justice Story 
• Carol Kuniholm – Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places 
• Leah Sophia – Justice is Important, Food is Essential
• Kathy Escobar – Justice is More Than Equality 

"Good to All People"

Meditation for a Sunday morning


So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

Letter to the Galatians chapter 6 verse 10, NET

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[The Christians] love one another. They do not neglect widows. Orphans they rescue from those who are cruel to them. Every one of them who has anything gives without reserve to the one who has nothing. If they see a traveling stranger they bring them under their roof. They rejoice over them as over a real brother or sister, for they do not call one another brothers and sisters after the flesh, but they know they are siblings in the Spirit and in God. If one of them sees that one of their poor must leave this world, they provide for their burial as well as possible. And if they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed by their opponents for the sake of their Christ’s name, all of them take care of all that person's needs. If possible they set them free. If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for them. In this way they can supply any poor person with the food they need.

Apology of Aristides, Chapter 15 (c. AD 124)