Social Justice Beyond Social Media
It never really was supposed to be Radical…
It’s become a fad the last couple of decades in mainstream American Christianity, and you can see it all over Facebook and Twitter. The phrase “social justice” has entered the popular Christian vernacular in the and has helped form programs and ministries for the poor and disenfranchised. Social media allows us to see this regularly.
You do not have to read the Bible carefully to get why this is a good thing; the teaching to love the poor, widow, orphan and immigrant is in literally every section and genre. God said in the law that there should be no poor among the Israelites and to love the immigrant “as you love yourself”. In narrative God exalts Ruth, a poor, widowed immigrant woman as the heroine of her book. Israel’s songbook says that the man who considers the poor is blessed. God speaking through a prophet says that King Josiah “defended the cause of the poor and needy” and then asks “Is that not what it means to know me?” Jesus said in the Gospels to love the least of these is to literally love him. And in the epistles Paul said it was always his ambition to serve the poor.
Depending on how you count, anywhere from 1500 to 2200 verses in the Bible teach this. It seems that while God loves all people, he has a special place in His heart for those who are the victims of injustice.
We have the Instagram and Facebook pictures to prove it…
Somehow this theology escaped much of Christianity for the better part of the 20th century. Now we have legions of books, internet articles, Youtube videos and blogs dedicated to this topic. And the church has responded. Sponsoring children in poor countries, visiting prisons and soup kitchens, disaster relief, speaking out on social media about racial injustice and short term mission trips have become all the rage. It has become somewhat of a litmus test for churches these days to measure what they are doing for the disenfranchised people around them. Which is great.
The Inside Out, Upside Down Kingdom of God
Yet, I submit that social justice—truly biblical social justice—goes beyond posts and tweets and even beyond serving in the short term. One of the most convicting and sharp teachings of Christ is Luke 14:12-14, where he tells his listeners while at a banquet that when they invite people to their homes, they should not invite their friends, family and those who are rich, but instead to invite the poor, crippled. lame and blind.
I think Jesus is teaching something deeper than serving people with money from a distance or for a couple of hours at a time or even for a whole week. He doesn’t really teach in this passage to serve. He is teaching, I think, that to love the poor we do not just serve, but we go even further in that we associate. I take from his words that when people had luncheons and dinners in his culture, they invited their social equals. As is typical of Jesus, he teaches something counterintuitive, countercultural and as inside out and upside down as could be: you should treat those society says are beneath you as though they are your family and best friends.
The Heart of the Church, Not An Appendage
What does this look like for our culture? How do we go beyond mainstream social justice–merely serving the poor, orphan, immigrant, etc.–to associating with them?
Well I think it begins with a flaw in our thinking as far as how we do church in our country. Even if we never say it this way, we far too often approach church ministry as “if you become like us, you will be welcome”. We often attend church with people who dress like us, speak in our cultural coded language, like our kind of music and get all of our inside jokes. People who do not, will feel out of place. And make no mistake, associating with the poor will be essentially impossible with this approach. And even if our churches have ministry to the poor, they may end up as a compartmentalized extension–an appendage–instead of having them as part of our DNA.
The commission has never been getting people to “come” to us but instead commanding us to “go”. The flaw is directional. We should go to them, live among them (when possible), associate with them, socialize with them and build community organically from that. Then we welcome the poor no matter their dress or taste in music. As it was in the early church in Acts.
To give a specific example from my life, God called me into a Spanish speaking neighborhood in Chicago to minister. I teach ESL classes to the neighborhood because it is by far the biggest need. But I have also attempted (poorly at times, just being honest) to learn the cultures and languages of my neighbors. To say it one way, teaching English is a way to serve; learning Spanish is a way to associate. This is just one example. I know that many, many people have done more that I can dream of to associate with the poor. Yet we all can do something.
Paul said people treated him as scum and refuse…what does dignity mean to you?
But Luke 14:12-14 has context. Why did Jesus have to teach these people to invite the poor intend of their friends? Well vs. 7-11 explains why. The crowd at this banquet concerned themselves with being honored. They did not want to humble themselves, but wanted to be exalted. Hence they would have considered the poor far beneath them. Is it possible that we are the same? It is possible that we stop with serving a couple of hours a week or a for two weeks every summer and then go back to the safety of our world of social equals and family and churches of people just like us because we do not want to humble ourselves to associate?
But this thought is not complete in my understanding of Christianity. The other side to the context of Luke 14:12-14 is vs. 15-24, Jesus giving a parable of inviting three people to a banquet. They all make excuses as to why they cannot. And so instead Christ has them go out into the streets and invite the poor, lame, blind, etc. What could he mean by this?
Notice the three excuses the people give: they could not come because of relationships, activity and wealth. The poor are then invited, who generally do not have these things. Following on the heels of Luke 14:7-12, I think Jesus is teaching that we should associate with the poor because the very things that keep us from being poor (relationships, activity, wealth) are the very things that distract us from truly understanding our need for God. By associating with the poor, we are reminded of who we are spiritually. Luke 14:15-24 is the same exact scene as the prior verses. These things are connected. And are crucial to biblical social justice.
A Beggar Showing Other Beggars…
Jesus taught that you cannot enter into his kingdom if you are not poor in spirit. The word for “poor” in Matthew 5:3 is a person without resources to get money. And had to beg for it. That is significant. When we value dignity and consider the poor to be beneath us, we are missing the point of Christianity entirely. God is only valued correctly when we see how desperate our need for him is.
Perhaps God loves the poor so much–again, 2,000 verses worth–because they do not have anything to cloud their view of how badly they need Him. Perhaps this is why Christ repeatedly stated it is hard for the rich to get into Heaven. Relationships are necessary. Activity is great. Wealth in and of itself is not evil. But these things can and do distract us1. By associating with the poor, we should be reminded of who, according to Jesus in Matthew 5 and Luke 6, is truly in his kingdom. Isn’t that the point of Luke 18:9-14?
Lastly, I will add that this proves another directional mistake we make in Christianity. When we serve but do not associate, we experience the temptation to think we reach down to serve the poor. But when serve while associating, we realize that in the Christian worldview, we reach across. Luke 14:7-12 teaches clearly that the Bible demands we see ourselves as equal to the poor. Because spiritually it is who we are. My ESL students want to see me as their superior as an English teacher in the US. But my faith demands I cannot see it that way. At the foot of the cross, all are poor in spirit and therefore entirely equal. And by having been to other countries where I was the minority struggling with the language, I can see myself as equal to them much more easily. Association teaches me humility.
Humility is not Goodness, It’s Honesty
Other religions and philosophies teach service to the poor and even associating with the poor. But none of them start with Christianity’s social justice starting point. The rest of the world teaches that we do it to be good; Christianity teaches we do it because we are not good. Everything I do for my neighborhood in Chicago (and honestly, I am often lazy and do very little) is because I am poor in spirit and following Christ by grace.
And with that as our starting point, we can truly move beyond just serving the poor, orphan, widow and immigrant and to associating with them. Which means loving them as God does.
- Note that Luke 14:25-35 is right after this, where Jesus teaches that we must hate the people closest to us in comparison to our love for Him. It’s all connected. ↩
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Good stuff, Gowdy. We are indeed fortunate to have you as a part of our community, both Northwest and Bel-Cragin.
Thanks. I could and should do more but I’m very proud of our church apart from my involvement in how organically we have made community a place where so many different kinds of people are comfortable. Also, you can probably see how often I write for REO based on sermons I’ve done. Northwest has helped contribute to this site many times over.
This is great! So challenging.
Thanks! Your opinion is of great value to me. To God be the glory.
Great thoughts. I do challenge the statement that social justice was absent from the 20th century though. We think it was absent because Platt and Chan have made such a deal out of it. In the 20th century a lot of good Christian people did amazing things for the poor and the outcast. They just didnt tweet or post or take pictures or make it the central picture to their website. Many served quietly and humbly because they listened to what Jesus said about the Pharisees trumpeting their righteousness. Many served and gave much more sacrificially than we will ever know. And (this is not directed at you Gowdy) for our generation to continually have the hubris to claim righteousness over older Christians is no different than what we criticize about their generation. If we had the humility and heart of the previous century added to the energy and pioneering spirit of this century, we would have it about right.
Absent would be too strong a word and if I implied that I was incorrect to do so. Church history is not my strongest subject and I am relying on those I think know it well to tell me there was a fear 100 years ago among churches like the one I grew up in that doing social justice meant preaching a watered down social Gospel. It was like an either/or thing instead of both/and. But I cannot argue that too emphatically because I’m going on verbal teachings of people and not written things I could cite. I do know before the last couple of decades that some considered their contribution to social justice giving money to missionaries to go to Africa or India to do it. But that’s just anecdotal evidence.
I also don’t think Chan and Platt necessarily started the current trend but that people like them did and that they took it to such a popular level that it is easy to credit them for helping make it very mainstream.
“If we had the humility and heart of the previous century added to the energy and pioneering spirit of this century, we would have it about right.”
Thanks for giving me something to think about, Scott. Great stuff.
Also Gowdy, really good article all around. The final 2 points brought it home for me. “Humility is not goodness; it’s honesty.” For Christ, humility was all about goodness. But for us, it is only about our lack thereof, apart from Him. Coincidentally, I had just read Philippians chapter 2 today before reading this post. So I have already been thinking about (and trying to act upon) how I should live out Christ’s humility for others all day. This article just keeps me motivated that others are trying to do the same through His power. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
You wrote: “But Luke 14:12-14 has context. Why did Jesus have to teach these people to invite the poor intend of their friends? Well vs. 7-11 explains why. The crowd at this banquet were far too concerned with being honored. They did not want to humble themselves, but wanted to be exalted. Hence they would have considered the poor far beneath them. Is it possible that we are the same? It is possible that we stop with serving a couple of hours a week or a for two weeks every summer and then go back to the safety of our world of social equals and family and churches of people just like us because we do not want to humble ourselves to associate?”
I think this is true. I wonder if it is true for the people I know and for myself. I don’t think I look for ways to be honored or exalted but I do know that I tend to avoid people and places that make me uncomfortable. Is that sort of the same thing? Just thinking out loud here…
I appreciate your candor. I don’t know if they are exactly the same thing but I enjoy some thinking out loud. I don’t necessarily look for ways to be exalted either but I also would rather avoid people who make uncomfortable, including the type of people I just wrote about.