Jesus tells disciples, in the “Community of God” caring for the least is caring for him, “Whatever you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me.” Opponents of Jesus will not care for the least and therefore will not care for Christ Jesus nor Christs throughout history, “When did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?”
Opponents of Jesus do not care for his teaching about caring for the least of us in the Community of God. Their opposition usually reflects a two-fold misunderstanding; about people and about the people’s authority, aka democracy. Opponents misunderstand people as sinful, thus deserving of a lack of care, even deserving of punishment; hunger, illness, imprisonment, and more. Opponents also misunderstand social authority as politics spawned by the kingdom of Caesar, in which rulers claim justification for judging sin and inflicting punishment. But social authority is not politics. Social authority is inherent in Jesus’ Community of God. It is a decidedly social term. It is a teaching and an endeavor that is all about people’s social authority to provide collective caring action for the people and their common good – democracy. Politics originates in punitive rulers and their supporters who, like the uncaring Gospel characters, do not care for people and do not care for Community. Rulers who do not understand democracy, such as those within institutional christianity promulgated a well-intended but mistaken glorification of Christ as King, today’s feast. The title was metaphorical and was supposed to end its use by earthly punitive rulers over the sinful least of us. But opponents of Jesus keep using the title Christ the King as historical to justify rulers judging and punishing the least of us. Some people want to steer a middle course between the two. They want to care for people while allowing rulers to pilot punitive politics. But that hinders creating a peaceful Community of democracy on earth. Who are these middle course people? They include liberals. When asked, ‘How do we care for the least of us?,’ well intentioned liberals respond, ‘We reform the kingdom of Caesar.’ They petition captains of the ship of state to help the least of us. As conservatives who herald Christ as King devise poverty, hunger, and war, liberal reformers devise higher wages, more farm subsidies, and smaller war budgets while supporting the troops. Under liberalism, rulers and their Empires still determine our values, keep our focus, and get our energy, for degrees of change. Care is not so much given to people nor to the people’s social authority for a peaceful Community – democracy. Liberalism influences people toward a well-intended but erroneous glorification of Christ as Liberal. But Christ is not liberal. Christ is radical. Christ is all radical peacemakers growing a Community called democracy. To the degree we are steered by liberal reform, we will not be leading a radical revolution. As we do share leadership in a radical revolution, the kingdom of Caesar will not merely be reformed, it will be dissolved.
Self-titled christians and liberal reformers both chastise peacemakers for leaving U.S. Empire’s politics to non-believers. Precisely. The U.S. Empire is the politics of nonbelievers. It is rulers and supporters who will always coerce our reform of the kingdom of Caesar so that we will never radically replace it with the Community of democracy able to create few, if any, of the least of us. Liberals assert those who detract from their reforms are judging the glass half empty instead of seeing it half full. But in reality, the glass is sitting next to us, topside on a slave ship. We keep repairing and servicing the ship, making the round trip, and congratulating ourselves for pulling a slave or two topside to join us for a drink. At the same time there is an entire Sea of care that is the Community of democracy we could all be swimming in. We know how to swim. We’ve known for 2,000 years. Get off the slave ship and get in the water.
Prayer: Spirit, we share power with the least of us.
Question: What keeps me on the slave ship working for reform?
November 22, 2020 Gospel Matthew 25:31-46 Feast of Christ the King