ROOTS & WINGS : The Christian biblical political agenda
Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/67350/
When the Son of Man comes in his glory,... all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ” (Matthew 25: 31 ) Is there a Christian political agenda ? One of the first places biblical Christians look is the end of Matthew 25. It is an image of judgment. Jesus returns. The nations are set before him. He judges.
Here is the only criterion: Did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoners ? If so, blessings; if not, cursing. “ Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. ”
That is a political agenda. It is addressed to the nations. It’s pretty straightforward and simple. And the judgment is clear and unambiguous. The good nations take care of the “ least of these” — feeding, welcoming and clothing; providing health care; and creating humane prisons. The bad nations don’t.
It is such a clear biblical instruction. Matthew attributes it to Jesus himself. It is so consistent with his own life and ministry — Jesus fed the multitudes and scandalized society with his table hospitality to outcasts and strangers; Jesus healed the sick and reached out with compassion to the suffering and marginalized; he and his cousin John were both imprisoned.
With such clear biblical instruction, you would imagine that every Christian group or individual that speaks to public issues would put this agenda front and center. You would imagine that candidates wishing to speak to Christian values would be competing with each other to promote new and creative ways to feed, welcome, clothe and heal as well as to relieve prisoners.
From the perspective of Matthew 25, the only thing at the last judgment is one question: How did you respond to the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick or imprisoned ? There’s nothing about what or how much you believe, there’s nothing about sexual orientation or abortion, nothing about guns or evolution. It is a simple command — as a nation, respond with generous compassion toward the needs of others.
How might our conversation about immigration be informed by this parable ? Can anyone imagine Jesus saying of our undocumented neighbors, “ Put up a wall; cut them off from medical care; punish any who work or any who hire them; send their parents away and let their children be orphaned” ? Of course not. Jesus says, “ Love your neighbor as yourself. ”
Matthew 25 is great motivation for political action and for the social gospel. This commandment of Jesus was underneath Christian support for the 1960 s War on Poverty that cut U. S. poverty rates in half and was on track to end poverty in this nation when it was derailed by the expense of the Vietnam War. Christian support for Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are also based on the compassion embodied in Matthew 25. Many churches, including my own, have endorsed a blueprint for the worldwide Millennium Development Goals as an expression of Jesus ’ command to respond to the needs of the poor, the sick and the stranger. Many Christians demand universal access to health care as a direct response to Jesus’ teachings.
How ironic it is that several of the other “ less Christian” or “ nonChristian” nations have found the social heart and political will to extend a subsistence level of living and medical care to everyone. Our government argues about what is really torture and indefinitely detains prisoners at our gulag in Guantanamo. Who are the sheep, and who are the goats ?
There is a clear biblical political agenda, a tradition from the lips of Jesus. There is a simple, single criterion for the judgment of the nations: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, care for the sick and those in prison. If we want a blessed nation, that’s Jesus’ standard.
Lowell Grisham is an Episcopal priest from Fayetteville.