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)

Jesus associated with social outcasts

One of the most distinctive aspects of Jesus’ ministry concerns how he regularly associated with social outcasts. He associated with women who had lived a sinful life (Luke 7:36-50), with tax collectors who were hated for unjustly taking money from the people (Matthew 9:10, Luke 19:1-10), with lepers who were considered unclean and who lived on the margins of society (Luke 17:11-19, Matthew 8:1-4), and with Samaritans who were hated by the Jews (John 4:1-26). In many of these relationships he was judged to be acting inappropriately by those with cultural power during his day (Luke 7:39, Matthew 9:11), or else he was viewed with skepticism by those he interacted with because of his neglect of social taboos (John 4:9). In fact, Jesus summarizes his own reputation as follows: “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and ‘sinners’” (Luke 7:34). Yet none of this marginalization led to his wavering from his insistence that the kingdom of heaven was good news to the poor, the meek, the outcast, and the leper.

Jesus associated with social outcasts. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and savior.

Jesus was thought to be conceived due to adultery

The Biblical account is clear that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). However, it is not difficult to imagine that many who heard this story during his life would doubt it, just as many doubted that he was raised from the dead. In fact, we have a number of anti-Christian polemic in historical sources, most notably the Talmud and the writings of Celsus, suggest that Mary was involved with a Roman soldier who got her pregnant out of wedlock. Among devout Jews, claims such as these would alienate Jesus as a child, and perhaps into adulthood, though it must be admitted that the gospels themselves spend no time focusing on this part of Jesus’ life, so this claim is more speculative than others I’ve discussed during advent.

Jesus was (falsely) thought to be conceived due to adultery. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was not a Citizen of the Empire

Jesus lived in territory claimed by the Roman Empire, but not all individuals in this territory were automatically given citizenship. Today, many nations grant citizenship to anyone born on their soil, but the Roman Empire claimed many territories where citizenship was not granted to many residents. We know that crucifixion was a death commonly reserved for non-citizens because it was deemed to cruel to be exacted on a citizen. Combined with the statistical unlikelihood of Jesus being a Roman citizen, this strongly suggests that Jesus was not a citizen of the Roman Empire. While all human beings in the civilized world were thought to have basic rights under Roman law, a citizen was protected from degrading forms of punishment under Valerian and Porcian laws, they were given the right to vote, and they had stronger rights in terms of courtroom processes and appeals. No doubt Jesus’ lack of citizenship was a historical factor playing a role in his trial and death.

 

Jesus was not a citizen. He was God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was of Ethnically Mixed Heritage

The Old Testament has two perspectives on marriage between people of different ethnicities. Books like Deuteronomy, Ezra, and Judges emphasize the problems that can arise from such marriages, for marrying outside the covenant often results in Jews following foreign gods. On the other hand, books like Ruth and Esther show how marriages across ethnic and national boundaries can be used by God to deliver His people or can serve as illustrations of virtue. During Jesus’ time, certain Jewish groups emphasized the former perspective in an extreme manner. Separatist groups like the Essenes tried to avoid virtually all contact with Gentiles, and some Jewish groups denied that books like Esther which showed a positive view of inter-ethnic marriages should be in the canon. Contrast this with the New Testament genealogies of Christ. There are many women who play a notable role in the Old Testament, either good or bad, from Abraham’s wife Sarah, to David’s wife Bathsheba. In the New Testament genealogies, we repeatedly see marriages between Jewish men and non-Jewish women, from Ruth the Moabite and Boaz to Rahab the Canaanite (Matthew 1:5), while prominent Jewish women are not mentioned. That Jesus emphasized his lineage this way, as did his follower, is extremely important to later Christian ethics, which in the early church sought to overcome ethnic division (even if in more recent times Christians have fallen short of this ideal). This emphasis caused Jesus’s followers like Paul lots of trouble, and it would have caused many to question Jesus himself as the messiah, perhaps to the point of marginlization.

Jesus was of ethnically-mixed heritage. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was from a Disrespected Community

At the beginning of his ministry, when Jesus is still calling his first disciples, Philip told Nathanael about Jesus of Nazareth, whom he had begun to follow. Nathanael’s response is telling: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Nazareth is not a particularly respected city, and few expected a Messiah to come forward from Nazareth, where Jesus and his family had apparently lived since after the return from Egypt, and even before this time. Before they traveled to Bethlehem for a census, Luke tells us that Mary lived in Nazareth of Galilee (Luke 1:26). The location of Nazareth is equally important. Galilee is the northern most part of the land traditionally belonging to Israel. As a result of the division of kingdoms (where the Northern Kingdom of Israel tended toward idolatry and sin), and of the conquest of the north by Assyria, there was a longstanding prejudice against Galileans as religiously inferior, ethnically impure, and culturally backward. A Galilean would have spoken a dialect that would have quickly singled him out and made him easily recognizable as an outsider, and we see from the very beginning of his ministry, when Jesus first called his disciples, that he experiences some prejudice because he is from a disrespected community.

Jesus was from a disrespected community. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was Marginalized

The end of the book of Isaiah contains a number of prophecies concerning the suffering servant, which the New Testament interprets to apply to Jesus Christ. This servant is one who “had no form of majesty that we should look at him” (Isaiah 53:2). “He was despised and rejected by men” (53:3). “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted” (53:7). He was “deeply despised, abhorred by the nation” (49:7). This is an important part of Jesus’ earthly identity in the flesh. Jesus was an outcast, marginalized at various times of his ministry by various segments of society. Jesus was from a disrespected community. He was a friend to social outcasts that were rejected by society at large. In a time when certain Israelites spoke strongly against intermingling with non-Jews, Jesus was proudly remembered to be descended from ethnically mixed marriages. He was denied citizenship and was an oppressed minority in the Roman empire, part of an occupied nation. Simply put, Jesus was marginalized.

Jesus was marginalized. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

A Psalm for the Poor

Blessed be the name of the Lord
    from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!

The Lord is high above all nations,
    and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the Lord our God,
    who is seated on high,
who looks far down
    on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.

 

Psalm 113:2-8

Jesus worked on behalf of the poor

[grading season distracted me from posting yesterday]

Though Jesus was born in poverty, he intentionally lived a life of greater poverty than was his status by birth, and he viewed this as a component of his ministry. Indeed, when he first announced his ministry, he did so by reading a passage from Isaiah 61:1-2, which begins “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news for the poor.” After reading, Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:18-21). While he did not require all his followers to abandon everything (after all, he regularly stayed in the homes of his followers for brief times), he did frequently spoke on behalf of the poor or challenge the wealthy to give away excess riches for the benefit of the poor (Matthew 19:16-30, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 12:15). In this, we was continuing the tradition of John the Baptist (Luke 3:11). After the crucifixion and the resurrection, Jesus’ followers continued this ethical emphasis, frequently selling their possessions to help the poor and giving money sacrificially (Acts 2:45, 4:34-45, 2 Corinthians 8:1-5). In fact, in the early centuries of the church (and in many places and times since then, though there are always other times and places that fall short), the movement Jesus started has been characterized by working to help the poor.

Jesus was poor, and he worked on behalf of the poor. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was Dependent on the Financial Generosity of Others.

Though Jesus spent his ministry as an itinerant preacher, staying in the homes of those who would have him, or else living outside. However, Jesus and his disciples are not only dependent upon the generosity of others to find a place to stay, but also to meet their daily needs. Jesus commands the seventy-two do accept food and drink in return for their witness to the kingdom of God (Luke 10:7), and hem instructs the twelve disciples to take no money with them in their own ministry, which suggests that they would be dependent on the generosity of others for food as well (Matthew 10:9). Jesus regularly is welcomed into the homes of a wide range of people who are willing to feed both Jesus and his followers. At other times, Jesus and his disciples appear to be gleaning (Matthew 12:1), a provision established in the Old Testament where some grain would be left on the plant during harvest for the poor to collect to meet their needs (Leviticus 19:9-10). Here again, his daily sustenance depends on provisions offered by others. At times, the generosity of others toward his mission may have been significant. John 12:6 suggests that Judas was the disciple with the responsibility of keeping the money needed for the ministry, so much money that he was able to take some from the purse without being noticed. Over this three-year span, there is no evidence that Jesus worked a normal job to earn a wage to support himself.

Jesus was dependent on the financial generosity of others. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was Homeless

Whatever Jesus’ economic state during his young adult years, by the time of his ministry Jesus appears to have taken on the status of a homeless itinerant preacher. When someone offers to follow Jesus, he summarizes his status by saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). While in ministry Jesus did not have a fixed place of residence, though he may have had a home he could have returned to later (as did Peter after the crucifixion – John 21:3). He certainly had a home early in his ministry (Mark 2:1-2), but he likely left behind his possessions as a model of the ministry he called the twelve (Mark 6:8-11), the seventy-two (Luke 10:4-8) and others (Mark 10:21) to pursue. Using today’s terminology, we might call Jesus street dependent, rather than technically homeless, though most of us use the word to refer to people who may in fact have a regular room at a shelter or elsewhere. During his travels, at times Jesus relied on those who would allow him to stay in their homes for a time. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are most frequently mentioned here (Luke 10:38, John 11), but there are others. With the ancient emphasis on hospitality, it is not surprising that those who lacked a home themselves would find somewhere to stay in individuals’ homes as opposed to our modern convention of a homeless shelter. At other times, however, Jesus and his disciples appear to have slept outdoors on the mount of olives (Luke 21:37). As a whole, the evidence suggests that Jesus spent much of his ministry without a fixed place to live, often sleeping outdoors, and depending on the generosity of others.

Jesus was homeless. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.  

Jesus was from a Poor Family

Jesus was born to a poor family. The typical custom of Jewish families was to offer a sacrifice after the birth of the firstborn male. Jesus’ family offers two birds for a sacrifice (Luke 2:24), a provision from Leviticus 12:8 made for those who could not afford more expensive animals. This suggests that Jesus’ family was poor and unable to fulfill the higher requirements of the law. Jesus and his father Joseph are described as carpenters. The specific Greek word used here is tekton, and there has been some debate as to precisely what it means. A few scholars suggest that the phrase means that Jesus’ family was from the landless class of workers, the poorest of the workers. Some others suggest that this title more fittingly places Jesus and Joseph among the lower middle class – blue collar workers making a bit more than needed to survive. Perhaps the family’s status was somewhat bolstered by the gifts offered by the magi who visited when Jesus was a young child (Matthew 2:11), though how long this lasted as Jesus’ family fled to Egypt as refugees is unclear. At any rate, there is no indication that Jesus grew up in a wealthy or powerful family. The dispute is simply over the degree of poverty Jesus faced as a child.

Jesus was from a poor family. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Week 2: Jesus was Poor

Paul summarizes the gospel in many different ways throughout his letters. In his second letter to the Corinthians he succinctly writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Paul is referring to the doctrine of kenosis, or “self-emptying,” which suggest that while Jesus remained fully God, he humbled himself and took on a lowly status, refusing to utilize many divine prerogatives. Of course, the most significant dimension of this self-emptying refers to his taking on human nature, but we also cannot forget the specific historical life he assumed – a life of poverty. Elsewhere when Paul writes of the kenosis, he makes a similar connection: the eternal Son was not only born in the “likeness of men,” but also in “the form of a bondservant” (Philippians 2:7). The extent of the Son’s self-emptying for our salvation is only clear when we recognize that Jesus was neither a king, nor a wealthy man, nor a priest at the temple, but rather a poor peasant.

Jesus was poor. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

A Prayer for the Victims

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you 'violence!' and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted."

- Habakkuk 1:2-4

Jesus' Legacy and Followers are Victimized

After Jesus’ death, unjust civil proceedings, torture, and other evils could have ended. However, his movement only grew in power through the Holy Spirit, and the religious and political authorities took action to victimize his followers and tarnish his legacy. We know that Paul, one of the most important early converts to Christianity, was involved in persecuting and killing early converts to Christianity (Acts 8:1, 3), and that early leaders in Jerusalem, including the deacon Stephen (Acts 7:59-60) and James, the brother of John (Acts 12:2). In fact, this persecution was one of the challenges facing the early church for the first several centuries of its existence within the Roman empire, with large scale persecutions breaking out in 64, 96, 250, 257, and 303 AD resulting in numerous martyrs killed for the faith. Meanwhile, from the earliest days of Christianity, the New Testament claims that a misinformation campaign was begun about what happened, with guards being told to circulate the rumor that Jesus’ followers took his body and hid it (Matthew 28:11-15). Another ancient account from the Talmud claims Pilate called for witnesses for forty days to defend Jesus from charges of heresy, but none were found to come forward. Even after his life was taken, Jesus was still victim of injustices done to his legacy and his followers.

Jesus was a victim whose followers were victimized for associating with him. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.

Jesus was killed for challenging the political status quo

For generations scholars have worked hard to develop a deeper understanding of the historical circumstances surrounding the events in the life of Jesus but not directly attested to in the gospels. In many areas there is disagreement, but in one area in particular there is widespread agreement: part of the reason why Jesus was killed is that he was a threat to the political status quo. “The written notice of the charge against him read: The King of the Jews” (Mark 15:26) and we already noted that the guards mocked Jesus and crowned him with thorns as if a king. A long line of Messianic hopefuls before Christ had been executed for leading a revolution, either armed or cultural, against Greco-Roman society. Simon ben Giora and Judas of Galilee are the most notable example of figures whose teaching challenged the hegemony of the Emperor and the privilege of the ruling class. Even after Jesus’ death, when it was clear that his followers were not attempting to establish a new government, his followers continued to be killed, for (among other things) the political consequences of the young Christian religion, which frequently questioned military service, refused swearing loyalty to the Emperor when it contradicted the Old Testament or the teachings of Christ, and even professing Christ as Lord rather than Caesar. Christian apologetics and theology for centuries would take on a political tone. All of this historical context suggests that one reason Jesus was killed was because his message and the teachings preserved by his followers were viewed as a threat to the status quo, so he was treated in the same fashion as previous political dissenters and executed.

Jesus was a victim, executed as a threat to the political status quo. He was also God in the flesh, Lord, and Savior.