We all know that where you stand matters in how you end up seeing things. If I’m taking a picture of a building, cropping and filtering that picture can make a big difference but it won’t change the perspective (from the ground, from above, from the front, from inside). Perspective matters; that’s part of what Jesus was trying to teach us.
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Unpacking this a little, we see these individuals called out: the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. Why these people? Let us first come from a state of compassion and grace instead of judgment, as Jesus does for us.
Who keeps the people who are poor, poor? In a modern example, when there is enough food in the world to keep everyone fed, who let’s people starve? Who imprisons people? Again, we understand that laws may have been broken, etc. but we also know that we are no different than prisoners; there is not a single person that hasn’t broken God’s laws and yet He gives us salvation so He obviously has a heart for prisoners. Who oppresses people? An example of this might be consumers and companies who buy and sell products that have people around the world work at wages that do not support living in dignity or even working in dangerous environments. Many products are now an issue for this unless you buy fair trade and most people don’t know, don’t care or think they can’t do anything even though they are part of the machine. So who is blind? Jesus definitely healed physically blind people but being blind is not an “action taken” that can be easily blamed on the individual, as the other three so often are. Perhaps it is because the blind referred to are the rich, the oppressors and the accusers.
When we look at the response to people wanting a living wage in the US how do we think the heart of God would feel? Let’s address one argument I see, which is when people say a person working a 40 hour week doesn’t deserve a pay that keeps them living in dignity because they didn’t go to school and don’t have a college degree: “Why should someone make just as much as I do with my degree?” That brings to mind this verse:
Matthew 20 1-16 “God’s kingdom is like a man who owned some land. One morning, the man went out very early to hire some people to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay the workers one silver coin for working that day. Then he sent them into the vineyard to work. About nine o’clock the man went to the marketplace… So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my field, I will pay you what your work is worth.’ So they went to work in the vineyard. The man went out again about twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock. Both times he hired some others to work in his vineyard. About five o’clock the man went to the marketplace again. He saw some other people standing there. He asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’ “They said, ‘No one gave us a job.’ “The man said to them, ‘Then you can go and work in my vineyard.’ “At the end of the day, the owner of the field said to the boss of all the workers, ‘Call the workers and pay them all. Start by paying the last people I hired. Then pay all of them, ending with the ones I hired first.’ “The workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay. Each worker got one silver coin. Then the workers who were hired first came to get their pay. They thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received one silver coin. When they got their silver coin, they complained to the man who owned the land. They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as us. And we worked hard all day in the hot sun.’ “But the man who owned the field said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am being fair with you. You agreed to work for one silver coin. Right? So take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same pay I gave you. I can do what I want with my own money. Why would you be jealous because I am generous?’ “So those who are last now will be first in the future. And those who are first now will be last in the future.”
So why are the people who got their degree wanting to withhold from others when they have what they wanted for themselves? Why would the men from the beginning of the day want the men at the end of the day to get less even though they got exactly what was agreed to? It is all about perspective and that perspective has a high cost. They aren’t standing in solidarity with the poor; they are protecting their own self-interests. They are blind.
In The Liberation of Theology, Juan Luis Segundo says, “Indeed Jesus seems to go so far as to suggest that one cannot recognize Christ, and therefore come to know God, unless he or she is willing to start with a personal commitment to the oppressed.” (pg. 81) While I think you can know certain aspects of God’s character (the Hebrews certainly did) Jesus came to fulfill the Law and make a new covenant and I think that it is accurate in saying you cannot fully understand the heart of Jesus without keeping his commandments. He trains us, grows us and enters into relationship with us through the interactions he calls us to.
Matthew 25:37-45 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“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.’
“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. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 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.’
“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?’
“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.’
Bryan P. Stone says in Compassion Ministry that, “…the placement of ourselves alongside the poor and the suffering is not simply for their benefit or for their liberation. On the contrary, the context of human poverty, suffering, and oppression provides an indispensable position for sensing the heartbeat of God and for discovering the decisive significance and relevance of Jesus Christ for all of us… the view from below is an essential starting point that opens up who God is for the world and sets the agenda for the structure and mission of the church in the world as a liberation community.” It is standing beside those who Jesus stood beside.
For a Brave Sparrow 