If we are united to Christ, we are united to one who was poor, marginalized, and a victim

One of the dominant themes in Paul’s theology is the notion of union with Christ. 73 times in his letters, Paul uses the phrase “in Christ,” often to refer to the idea of an organic and spiritual connection between Christ and Christians. In the New Testament, we also read that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5), we are the body and Jesus is the head (1 Cor. 6:15-19), and that we are stones being built up into a building, with Christ the foundation (1 Peter 2:4-5). While there are a number of different ways theologians try to explain this connection, most agree that reducing this idea to a metaphor is a mistake. In some sense we are really connected to our Savior. What this means is that we have real communion with one who was poor, marginalized, and victimized. We are one body with one who was a refugee, tortured, and wrongly convicted. We are branches nourished by one who associated with lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors. We are stones who rest on the foundation of one who spent part of his life homeless and dependent on the generosity of others. If we already have such communion today with Christ, it makes no sense for Christians to separate themselves from the poor, the outcast, or the victimized in other areas of our life. Paul understood this well, and his understanding of the gospel calls Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, to be united into the one community of the Church. We Christians would do well to remember that.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect human. We are united to the one who was poor, marginalized, and a victim, and should share fellowship with those in similar circumstances today.

The Voices of the Poor, the Marginalized, and Victims can help us Understand Christ

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul teaches that each member of the church has unique gifts to offer the whole church. While he does not explicitly teach the connection I am about to make, it has become clear to me that those members of the church who are poor, victimized, and/or marginalized have the ability to help us understand Jesus in his humanity. (They probably have other gifts as well). Those people among us today who have experienced some of the things that Christ experienced in his humanity will be able to help us understand who he was, what he felt at different times, and what the motivations of many of his early followers who continued in his lifestyle may have been. This is not to say that the experience of the poor or the marginalized is a substitute for Scripture, or even on par with Scripture. It is, however, to suggest that listening to the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized can help us to overcome certain biases in reading that may prevent us from seeing certain aspects of Jesus’ human life as a poor, often marginalized victim. Though I have a long way to go, the reflections I have shared this advent are shaped in part by listening to the voices of theologians who have experienced victimization or poverty, marginalization or oppression, such as Jon Sobrino, James Cone, or Tammy Williams. This is not to say I accept everything I hear from such theologians; rather, it is to suggest that my own understanding of God is enriched by listening to those who share a similar status to the one assumed by the Son of God in the incarnation. The church as a whole would do well to listen intently to such voices.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect human. As we listen to the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized, we can understand his human life more fully.

Jesus, a Poor, Marginalized Victim, accomplished our Salvation

“Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Notice how Paul clearly teaches that righteousness is dependent upon Christ, but also how he emphasizes the humanity of Christ, the “one man.” For centuries theologians have argued that the human obedience of Jesus Christ is the basis of our justification (in other words, the reason why we can be viewed as righteous by God even while we are sinners). We cannot forget that Jesus lived a human life of poverty and marginalization as a victim of violence and injustice, nor can we separate this life from the act of obedience through which Christians claim to be saved. Simply put, it was by the agency of a poor, marginalized victim that we are saved. Of course, we must immediately affirm that Jesus was not merely a human victim. He was also perfect God, the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God. Anything he accomplished he also accomplished through the divine power of God at work within this same human nature. Granting that this is true, and noting that divinity and humanity are united uniquely in Jesus Christ in a manner unlike any other harmony of divine and human action, it should also be clear that no human being accomplishes anything good apart from the work of God within him or her (Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 2:13). The fundamental point remains: it was by the agency of a poor, marginalized victim that we are saved. This means that the Christian ethical challenge to work on behalf of the poor, victims, and the marginalized cannot equate to a patriarchalism that sidelines these same poor, marginalized victims as if they can contribute nothing to the development of their own lives. Christian work on behalf of the “least of these” (Matthew 24:45) should be work that empowers those in need, enabling agency. We know it was by the agency of a poor, marginalized victim that God acted to bring about redemption, so we do not doubt what God can do when we enable the agency of those who are of a similar status today.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect man. By the agency of this poor, marginalized victim we are saved.

Whatever we do for the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed, we do for Christ

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks of those who were “hungry,” “thirsty,” “a stranger,” “sick,” or “in prison.” Then he clearly states, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45). Jesus’ connection with those who are the “least of these” is not incidental: Jesus was poor, marginalized because he was a Galilean, and killed for threatening the political status quo, despite his innocence. Jesus was one of the “least of these,” even as he was fully God. This places an incredible ethical burden on Christians. Certain actions are automatically excluded for Christians. Jesus was tortured. In eleven years of academic study of theology, I cannot think of a single Christian ethicist who claims torture is a valid Christian act. Christ’s words echo here: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Christ’s life places certain ethical values before Christians, even if the specific means of living out these values in policies and actions are not always specified. Jesus was a refugee, and so Christians are called to help those who are refugees. We are called to develop a wise, creative, and substantial response to any refugee crisis. We are also called to emphasize legal justice, advocacy for the poor, and social inclusion for the outcast. Any ethic that claims to be Christian but does not take seriously the identity of Jesus Christ is an ethic that falsely bears the name Christian.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect human. When we help the poor, victims, or the marginalized, we help human beings who are like Jesus Christ.

The Perfect Human was a Poor, Marginalized Victim

As I have discussed the last three weeks, Christ was a victim of torture and unjust conviction and execution, a refugee who spent part of his life homeless and dependent on the generosity of others. He was fond of associating with social outcasts, and he was himself marginalized because of his place of origin and executed because of his lack of citizenship. Apparently proud of his multi-ethnic heritage, Jesus’ ministry was marked by care for the poor and for outcasts. In all of this, he remained “perfect human.” The Bible clearly depicts Jesus as the “one man” in whom God’s grace was brought to us (Romans 5:12-20), the “last Adam” whose likeness we will bear at the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:45, 49), one who is not only perfect, but “perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10). The claim that Jesus is the perfect human requires that we look to Christ to see what human perfection is. Looking to Christ, the church must condemn as un-Christian any human ideal put forward by elitists who claim the wealthy are intrinsically superior to the poor, by racists who claim that those who are ethnically mixed are contemptible, or by classists who would suggest that the oppressed suffer because they are inferior, less naturally able to survive social conflict. Instead, turning to the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2), we must affirm that the truth revealed in the Bible: the perfect human being was a victim, poor, and marginalized, so we can never conclude from the fact that someone is a victim, poor, or marginalized that they are necessarily inferior in nature.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect human. In his life as a poor, marginalized victim, we learn what human perfection truly is.

Jesus was Perfect God and Perfect Human

So far I have focused on Christ’s humanity in my advent reflections, but we cannot forget that Jesus Christ was fully God. While he is depicted in the gospels as having a human will that is tempted (Matthew 4:1-11) where God cannot be tempted (James 1:13), a human body that is hungry (Mark 11:12), human emotions such as sadness (John 11:35), and a human mind that does not know some things (Matt. 24:36), he is also repeatedly described as divine through the New Testament. The early church sought to explain these two patterns of speech by affirming that Jesus has a fully divine nature, and a fully human nature, being both perfect God and perfect man. This week, I will be reflecting on the fact that when the eternal divine Son assumed a human nature and life in the incarnation, that the particular life he chose to assume was the life of a victim, a poor man, and a frequently marginalized man. In short, it is a tremendously significant dimension of our faith that God not only became man, but a particular kind of man.

Jesus Christ was perfect God and perfect human. He was also a victim, a poor man, and marginalized.

Oracles from Isaiah for the Outcasts

“ ‘Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child;

burst into son, shout for joy, you who were never in labor;

because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,’ says the Lord.” (54:1)

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;

And you who have no money, come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (55:1)

“Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say,

‘The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.’

And let not any eunuch complain, ‘I am only a dry tree.’

For this is what the Lord says:

‘To the eunuch who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me,

And hold fast to my covenant –

To them I will give within my Temple [in Deuteronomy eunuchs were banned from the temple] and its walls

A memorial and a name better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.” (56:3-5)