Some thoughts after reading LaShawn Barber's reponse to Jesse Jackson's politicization of our Lord...

Saith the irreverend Jackson:

Think about it: A conservative Christian is a contradiction in terms. Christ wasn’t a conservative. He fed the hungry simply because they were hungry. He didn’t require that they go to work first. He healed the sick, simply because they were sick. He didn’t push them into an insurance company, or let the drug companies gouge them on prices. Jesus was a liberal; Herod was the conservative.

Respondeth, in part, LaShawn:

Implicit is the common notion that conservatives don’t care about the poor. Liberals think they’ve cornered the market on compassion simply because they advocate bigger government programs to do the caring and feeding...

Indeed. And note that Jesus told his followers to do their good deeds (e.g. feeding the poor) in secret. He did not tell them to make a lot of public demands to create a secular government to do the job for them -- and fund these tasks by taking money, by force, from believers and unbelievers alike!

That is about as far from Jesus's teaching and examples of feeding the poor as I can possibly envision!

Christ indeed fed the poor. The poor in spirit. Christ said, “I am the bread of life….Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”

A commentor responds to this with:

This is actually the first post that I agree with you 100% although he did feed physically hungry people twice…

Yes, he did. He provided physical bread to hungry folks. And, for those who want to make this a lesson on how Jesus was a leftist, it's instructive to read the rest of story, too...

In John 6, after Jesus feeds the crowds, they respond to this wonderful miracle of bread-from-nowhere by trying to create -- in effect -- a kind of socialist "free bread government". Look at their reaction to Jesus's act of mercy, and note Jesus's own reaction:

After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. [John 6:14]

The minute they get the idea they can get free bread, their immediate impulse is to create an authoritarian government, "by force!", to do so! Truly, there is nothing new under the sun.

But Jesus didn't come into the world to create a government which gave everybody free bread. That wasn't his purpose. He hid himself to prevent being drafted into providing such a public service.

Think I'm kidding -- that maybe the crowd was impressed by the miracle, and not some socialist urge to get a government which gave free bread to everyone?

See what Jesus says just a few verses later:

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." [John 6:26-29]

Again, this is precisely the point LaShawn is making: The sign (feeding folks) was to get people's attention. Jesus wasn't so much concerned about feeding their stomachs on a permanent, ongoing basis, but their souls.

But where is the crowd's mind? Like Jesse, they're more focused on the prospect of free bread for everyone. They're more concerned about the physical and political than the spiritual side of things. See how they again keep trying to get Jesus to feed them free bread, and how Jesus attempts to refocus them on their spiritual needs:

So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

(These guys were really fixated on getting someone else to feed them!)

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

(Yet again with the demand for unlimited free bread!)

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

So the passages Jesse cites, if read in context, actually show Jesus had an aversion to creating an earthly government which would provide men, even poor men and women such as were surely in his audience, with guarantees of free bread.

If the Christ thought their focus on providing free bread was a distraction (indeed, the reason for their unbelief -- I hope Jesse takes note) then why should the Christ-ians ("little Christs") take the opposite stance?

Update: Well goodness! Welcome, any of you visitors from LaShawn Barber's Corner! (Not to mention kind, respectful greetings to LaShawn herself.)

If you liked (or hated!) this article, you might also be interested in Christians and Socialism, which presents a few more biblical arguments along this line. There's also the "Faith and Philosphy" topic index to the left.

God bless!