Marching Down Pennsylvania Avenue With Jesus

I grew up in the hot phase of the Cold War. People in Europe and all around the world, frightened by the prospect of instant annihilation began to demonstrate against nuclear weapons in their territory. The nuclear holocaust was a real possibility—so people marched. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the same generation discovered nature and ecology. In Europe, new political parties emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, to defend the ecological balance against roughshod capitalists clearing tropical forests in the Amazon basin at an alarming rate so that fast-food chains had a secure supply of beef for their increasing number of global customers.

Today our world is not less polarized. In fact, the last months have made this polarization even more obvious. The ugly face of systemic racism is visible again and again. A global pandemic has affected most nations around the globe, especially the world’s poor. Wearing or not wearing a face mask in the midst of a pandemic seems to make a political statement; politics have become plain nasty.

Media have moved us closer to one another. I can know about an important event happening on the other side of the globe in minutes—especially if I’m plugged into social media. People chanting on the streets of Moscow, a horrific accident in Texas, a terror attack in London, a devastating chemical attack in Syria, an unimaginable explosion in Beirut—we get it all on multiple screens within minutes.

This increase in information, however, has not led to better decisions. In fact, it feels as if societies all around the world have become more polarized. We “like” what we like to hear; the danger of digital ghettos where everybody thinks the same and those with different opinions are just not heard seems to be more real today than 20 years ago.

WWJD

What would Jesus do if He lived in 2020? Would He march down Pennsylvania Avenue in support of women, science, health care, the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration reform, the Constitution, or unborn life? Would Jesus enter the discussion about sustainability and limited natural resources and privacy rights? Would He speak up for the poor, the marginalized, the illegal immigrant, and the teenage girl who just found out that she’s pregnant?

These are penetrating questions requiring a careful look at what Jesus was passionate about during His ministry less than two millennia ago. Right from the outset we know He loved us unconditionally; His mission was to save the world (John 3:16). Yet, as He engaged with the world around Him, He often spoke purposefully about choices and values and principles that continue to affect our lives as well. Salvation and grace were not separate from justice and righteousness and mercy and compassion in Jesus’ heart. His ability to see the big picture while helping us notice the little, yet relevant, choices transformed the world.

The Kingdom Is at Hand

John the Baptist’s announcement that the kingdom of God was at hand (Matt 3:2) offers a good introduction to Jesus. The longed-for Messiah introduced sweeping hope and a new dimension that most of His audience was to ready to grasp. Yes, Jesus stood in the tradition of the prophets. His first sermon in Nazareth clearly illustrates this. After reading from Isaiah 61:1,2, Jesus simply states, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).¹ You remember the essence of this message. Jesus is ready to “proclaim good news to the poor,” “to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,” to “set at liberty those who are oppressed” (verse 18). That not only sounds radical—it was radical, and considering the response of His audience, it was not appreciated. Jesus proclaims God’s kingdom: He does not reinvent it, though. In all He is doing and saying He is deeply rooted in Scripture.

His Beatitudes (Matt. 5:1-12; Luke 6:20-23) and the subsequent expanding of these kingdom principles (Matt. 5-7) are truly countercultural. The poor in Spirit, the meek, those who are mourning, those who are thirsting for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers: they are all blessed in God’s kingdom—not the powerful, the mighty, the great, the haves, the VIPs, or royalty.

Jesus touches the blind, the crippled, the lepers (Matt. 8:1-4; 9:1-8; 27-31). He has fellowship with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (Matt 9:10, 11; Mark 2:13-17).² He tells stories about good Samaritans (Luke 10:25-37)—people that any Jew living in first-century Judaism knew to be bad. In His stories sinners receive a feast instead of a rebuke; they are embraced and transformed (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus welcomes outsiders and invites them to become insiders in God’s kingdom.

Justice for All

Jesus’ concern is clearly not only about healing, feeding, and proclaiming good news. His repeated cleansing of the Temple (John 2:13-16; Matt. 21:12-17) suggests also a focus on economic justice. God’s Temple was not to be a place to make a quick buck (Mark 11:12-17).

His proclamation of liberation involves all. While He purposefully preaches to Israel, the chosen people, the freedom He offers affects all—including the stranger and the alien living in Israel who were considered eligible for the jubilee legislation found in Leviticus 23-25.

When Jesus talks to the faithful about the judgment at the end of time, He purposefully includes the stranger (or foreigner) in His parable about the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31-46). You serve Me when you serve those you do not normally recognize, He whispers to our hearts. Pay attention, open your eyes, and see the brother or sister who doesn’t look like you.

Grow the Kingdom

Kingdom business is not just about understanding grace and reaching those who cannot reach for themselves. When we have recognized that we are already living in His kingdom,³ we join the ranks of His disciples Jesus uses several surprising metaphors to illustrate the role of His disciples in society. Matthew 5 tells us that we are to be salt and light (verses 13-16). Salt gives taste to otherwise bland food; salt conserves food in a freezer-less world, salt fertilizes, which was an important use in first-century Judaism.⁴ Light is needed to see a way and orient oneself in darkness. While Jesus is theLight of the world (John 1:6-9), His disciples are called to point the spotlight on Him. Their actions, values, and commitments echo His actions, values, and commitments.

Beyond light, Jesus also compares the agents of His kingdom to yeast (Matt. 13:33). Yeast is often used to illustrate that which is evil or unclean. Here, however, it is a symbol of unstoppable growth. Jesus’ disciples are in this world (though not of this world; cf. John 17:14-16), and their influence should penetrate everything. We are called to be engaged as Jesus was engaged in His world.

Finally true heart conversion always must involve the element of repentance. Israel’s great revivals were always associated with repentance and changed hearts—not just with changed circumstances. Jesus recognized that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Repentance and prayer are foundational elements of social action. Jesus teaches us to repent, to pray, and then to go.

The Power of Cash

Biblical thinking about stewardship begins at Creation. As created beings, we recognize our indebtedness and His Lordship. We recognize that there is a special time, after every six days, that belongs to Him. The making of the Sabbath represented the highlight and conclusion of the Creation week. It set aside time—one of our most precious commodities—as belonging to the Creator, forever.

Yet, Jesus does not only speak about time when He introduces the principles of God’s kingdom. He speaks of treasures, hard cash, and our attitudes to cash (Matt. 6:19-24). Building up treasures on earth is a futile exercise in a time rife with bank crashes and out-of-control capital markets. Building up treasures in heaven, where no one but God can see the ledger, will help us focus upon things of eternal value.

True discipleship means that all our resources (time, cash, energy, influence, and creativity) are at service of the kingdom. This radical vision lies at the heart of Jesus’ vision of His kingdom. “[Jesus] teaching establishes that Christians should be socio-politically involved and that this involvement is motivated by the character and activity of God as displayed in Jesus’ ministry, the hope of the consummation of the kingdom of God at the new creation and the Spirit’s present activity,” writes theologian Wesley Chiang. “Christ’s universal Lordship over all time and space motivates Christians to be championing his kingdom in every sphere of human life.”⁵

God’s Call to Action

Social action encompasses three main dimensions: relief, development, and structural change. Jesus was involved in all three areas. He offered relief to the needy, the sick, and the hungry. He invited them to follow Him, making disciples of tax collectors, fishermen, and even political activists. When He spoke about the kingdom of God, the most important recurring topic of His preaching He introduced radical structural change. Yet the principles He preached were solidly anchored in earlier revelation. He who inspired prophets and poets did not reinvent the wheel. Rather, He reminded His audience that their reading of Scripture was not without bias; that their understanding of the law was colored by their own preferences; that their commitment to grace lacked the existential experience of grace.

Ellen White’s take on social engagement seems to echo Jesus’ understanding. “Any human being who needs our sympathy and our kind offices is our neighbor. The suffering and destitute of all classes are our neighbors; and when their wants are brought to our knowledge, it is our duty to relieve them as far as possible,” she writes. “Our neighbors are the whole human family.”⁶

Yet Jesus, our human Brother, was, at the same time, also the completely Other. His sense of mission helped Him to know intuitively which areas of His society needed His engagement. He didn’t liberate all slaves, but He started a movement that ultimately would change the world—from inside out. His commitment to the principles of God’s kingdom moved Him to search out the marginalized as well as the powerful. He often surprised and irritated His disciples as He engaged the world around Him. Ultimately, they understood that morality based on self-interest and self-justification is not God’s morality but human-made fig leaves flaunted in open rejection of God’s kingdom.

Would Jesus march on Pennsylvania Avenue? I really don’t know. But I do know that He continues to challenge His church, individually and as a corporate body, to search for the principles of His kingdom in all we do. As the Creator, He cares for His creation. As the Savior, He yearns to relieve suffering and pain and extend grace and mercy to a sin-sick world. As the Judge, He desires righteousness, transparency, and equity in His followers as they, too, engage the world surrounding them.

Gerald A. Klingbeil is an associate editor of Adventist Review Ministries. This is a slightly updated version of an article published in the June 2017 issue of Adventist Review.

¹All Scripture quotations have been taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers Used by permission. All rights reserved.

²”Sinners” was often a code word for prostitutes (cf. Matt. 21:32, 33, where the link between prostitutes and tax collectors is spelled out by Jesus Himself).

³We need to remember that since the arrival of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem, the kingdom of God has come (cf. Luke 17:21).

⁴See Anthony B. Bradley, “You Are the Manure of the Earth,” Christianity Today, September 23, 2016.

⁵Wesley S. Chiang, “To What Extent Does Jesus’ Teaching About the Kingdom of God Provide a Helpful Basis for Christian Socio-political Thinking Today?” Evangelical Quarterly 83, no. 4 (2011), p. 319.

⁶Ellen G. White, Welfare Ministry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1952), pp. 45, 46. See also the discussion in R. Clifford Jones, “Social Issues, “ in Ellen G. White Encyclopedia, ed. Denis Fortin and Jerry Moon (Hagerstown, Md: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 2013), pp. 1174-1176, for more quotes and examples. Compare also Chantal J. Klingbeil, “In the World, but Not of It,” Adventist Review, October 2016, pp. 26, 27.