12 July 2022
Do I sound harsh and authoritative? It doesn't mean I don't care about the problems of people's lives. Without a shepherd's heart, I could not lead anyone to water if they were dying of thirst.
The Pharisees had a subtext that if you were poor, you couldn't possibly be obeying Jehovah. You must be accursed for some reason. If you don't pursue material wealth, and do it with effectiveness, they would say you don't understand God. They would insist that God would never call anyone to live in poverty, that in order to obey the Law you must fight and take over the world. They would say it's your duty to play it crafty and manipulate the world to give you it's wealth.
The Son of God said that in this world there would always be poor folks. There isn't enough money in this world to change that. Rather, it is the poor to whom we should take the gospel message. The rich run the risk of being unable to set aside wealth when God calls, but the poor never expect wealth in the first place. They have a lot less trouble with God's call to set aside this life in exchange for an eternal focus.
Jesus also said He didn't even own a good pillow on which to lay His head at night. His mission was to be carefree of material goods and allow the Father to provide by whatever means He wished. Some of us are supposed to live in poverty, in the sense that we focus on something other than material wealth. Jesus also clearly said this world was doomed, and it makes no difference whether you die rich or poor. You will die, and eventually this world will, too.
American evangelicalism is a middle-class Enlightenment philosophy. It's poorly disguised Pharisaism. It lectures the poor about not trying hard enough, even as it pretends to give them a little food and shelter. The help is given on the precondition that you must swallow the middle-class pursuit of material wealth, as if that were the gospel message.
Yes, plenty of poor people are Third World idiots, people who live for the moment. But the middle-class evangelicals live only for the span of their own lives. Totally outside this crazy dichotomy is a handful of people with an eternal perspective. Evangelicals can't tell the difference. That's why they scold the faithful poor for living in poverty, as if God could not possibly call anyone to live that way on purpose. Yet, the Christ they claim as Lord lived that way.
The reason the sheep are lost is because the self-appointed shepherds hate sheep. They hate that sheep are inherently stupid about a lot of things because they have a very limited interest in life: They eat and make more sheep. This is what Jesus called His people. They don't get wrapped up in all the concerns of this world. And when death comes, Jesus like a sheep didn't raise a hue and cry about His rights, as if activism would change the problems He faced from His own government.
The sheep of His pasture had a very, very long way to travel. They had been led off into the wilderness for so long, they didn't even know that good pasture existed. Jesus had a very long mission ahead of Him. But instead of doing it all Himself, He appointed disciples to carry on the task for Him. That's how He works today. He didn't rely on the human system in place; there was no hope there. The human system was the problem. And not only did He not work to reform the system, but He stepped completely outside of it. He taught His under-shepherds to do the same.
The system for us in America has been broken from the start. The US Constitution does not reflect the Word of God. The business of the Kingdom of Heaven is not saving any earthly governments, nor reforming them. The system sucks and we should be used to that; we should regard it as normal. The only thing we worry about is ways to get around it, but in the end, even if it crucifies us, it's a privilege to walk in our Master's footsteps.
Meanwhile, we have the heavy burden of seeking the lost sheep of His pasture. We have the task of leading them out of this world and into eternity, where the pasture is always green and waters run still. They will lollygag and get lost. Stay with them until they can make the journey.
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