This Side of

EXPLORING A CHRISTIAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE

Written by Hannah McClellan

Designed by Cassandra Berens

For many people, Christians have become synonymous with enthusiasts of Make America Great Again apparel, big walls, and politically incorrect speech. Some Christians resent this conservative stereotype, while others embrace it. Regardless, it is clear that religious identity has become a strong indicator of political identity – a 2018 Gallup poll on evangelicals in America reported that 68 percent of self-described evangelicals supported Trump, compared to only 26 percent of those same respondents that supported Obama. As the world watches many who proclaim to know Jesus hold these identities proudly, and at times, more so than they do their identities as Christians, many of these same people simultaneously claim to abstain from politics because of their Christianity. Politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, and often involve debate or conflict among people seeking to achieve political power. While activities such as voting or campaigning for a candidate are overtly political, actions that either defy or comply with the political norms of a society are political as well. It is For many people, Christians have become synonymous with enthusiasts of Make America Great Again apparel, big walls, and politically incorrect speech. Some Christians resent this conservative stereotype, while others embrace it. Regardless, it is clear that religious identity has become a strong indicator of political identity – a 2018 Gallup poll on evangelicals in America reported that 68 percent of self-described evangelicals supported Trump, compared to only 26 percent of those same respondents that supported Obama. As the world watches many who proclaim to know Jesus hold these identities proudly, and at times, more so than they do their identities as Christians, many of these same people simultaneously claim to abstain from politics because of their Christianity. Politics are the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, and often involve debate or conflict among people seeking to achieve political power. While activities such as voting or campaigning for a candidate are overtly political, actions that either defy or comply with the political norms of a society are political as well. It is often within these more covert forms of politics that Christians struggle to define, or even know, their role in politics as believers. One of these covert forms of politics is especially uncomfortable for many Christians to discuss or participate in – social justice.

Jesus defied the political and social norms of his time by dining with sinners and healing the sick on the Sabbath (Mark 2:15-17; 3:1-6), but too often, Christians stay away from acts of social justice – which really just come down to loving other people – because they do not wish to “get too political,” or defy the conservative expectations others have of them.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines identity politics as “politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group.” I am not going to make any arguments regarding the morality of supporting or not supporting Trump, but I will always argue against the temptation to idolize and lift high political identity above our identity as children of God. As Christians, we cannot fit neatly into any political party or identity,

and we shouldn’t expect to.

We live in a word that longs – groans – for justice. As Christians, we must live in the tension between fighting for justice now, while also realizing true justice will only be accomplished through the second coming of Christ. But that tension does not excuse us of the responsibility to fight for justice in this world with the gifts and privilege we have been given to ultimately point others to Christ, or to honor each other as people made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). We must let our struggle for justice as Christians be informed first and foremost by the Bible and not our political parties.

The Bible is full of explicit commands to pursue justice, and yet, for many Christians, the phrase “social justice” leaves a bitter taste in their mouths they attempt to rid by adhering to fundamentalist ideals of authority and tradition. For other Christians, social justice is a crusade in which positive change becomes the focus and fuel, rather than Christ himself. Neither extreme is a biblical, helpful, or obedient response to the call on our lives to pursue justice.

Lest we forget, I think it’s important to be reminded that that Jesus was not popular during his ministry on earth. Was he well known in Galilee and Judea, where most of his ministry took place? Definitely. Was he sought out in those regions? Yes. However, the miracles, but did not care much for those regions? Yes. However, the majority of the followers he amassed during his ministry admired his miracles, but did not care much for his teachings or their implications. And the religious leaders of the time? They despised Jesus – he was a radical, socioeconomically poor, Jewish son of a carpenter who threatened their authority and power.

Not only was Jesus unpopular, he was also political. We tend to remember Jesus as apolitical as justification for not engaging in messy and uncomfortable political conversations, but in reality he was scandalously intertwined in politics we often distance ourselves from. Throughout the four Gospels, Jesus rebukes the disciples for their expectations of him to be a savior through political reign, just as he similarly avoids debate with the religious leaders regarding the authority of Rome. So often, these are the types of politics we involve ourselves in – politics not centered on our individual actions, but on those of leaders we either despise or adore, parties we view as the problem or the answer.

Very often, even our best understanding of Jesus’ relationship with politics stops there. And while not buying the idea that our political leaders will be able to either fix or ruin everything is a crucial step, that alone is not what we are called to as Christians. Jesus didn’t stop at not idolizing political leaders – he also crossed political and social boundaries with nearly all of his actions and teachings. The miracles and words of Jesus we now look to for boldness and encouragement when thinking about love and justice were deeply political.

As a rabbi, he defied cultural expectations of cleanliness by dining with sinners. As a Jew, he defied cultural boundaries by speaking to, and teaching positively about Samaritans. As a man, he defied cultural gender norms by teaching, healing, and ministering to women. If Jesus’ ministry infiltrated politics, then we should expect our pursuit of love and justice to sometimes look political, too. The world may apply labels that attempt to split people evenly into camps with certain positions and identities, but Jesus walks into every camp we create to call his beloved to him – and he calls us to do the same.

During his ministry, Jesus defied all expectations of what religion should look like. He included “blue-collar” workers, women, ostracized sinners, and nonJews. We can see the culmination of the scandal of Jesus’ ministry most clearly in his interaction with the woman at the well – a woman who was not only known for her sexual immorality and adultery, but was also a Samaritan, a social outcast in Jewish culture (John 4:1-42). Not only does he speak with her, he also shares the truth of the gospel with her and reveals his identity to her. And perhaps most astonishingly, based on the culture, Jesus asks for a drink of water – showing what would have been considered a reckless disregard for his cleanliness in the presence of someone who was considered utterly unclean. This encounter is especially significant, as Samaritans were despised as inferior by the Jews during Jesus’ time, and women associated with sexual immorality were often stoned to death, exiled or shunned from their communities. All throughout the Gospels we can see Jesus interact with women in ways that were very contrary to societal expectations. He speaks with countless women in public, heals “unclean” women, allows himself to be anointed by a woman, taught women about scripture, invited Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many other women to accompany him during his ministry, and lovingly called each “Daughter.” Jesus treated women as valuable and cherished their spiritual maturity and understanding of who he was just as much as he did for his 12 male disciples.

Speaking of his 12 disciples, Jesus did not pick the type of men who would’ve typically been considered eligible to be religious apprentices at the time – rather, they were fishermen, tax collectors, and Jewish nationalists. With his inclusion of both the socially insignificant and outcasts, Jesus expands our image of who we are called to reach out to, and implies we cannot do so without establishing ourselves in places different than what we may be used to. He traveled to Samaritan and Gentile territories, as well as the homes of despised and cast-out people – all in the name of pointing sinners to God. All of this is to say that Jesus was not afraid to get political in order to ultimately bring people into relationship with him, and we shouldn’t be either. Much of the tension surrounding social justice boils down to Christians prioritizing either justice or evangelism. But Jesus shows us that when justice is pursued in the power of the Holy Spirit, the two are inseparable. When Jesus intervenes to save the life of the woman accused of adultery and points out the hypocrisy of those present, he also tells the woman to “go and sin no more” (John 8). When Jesus healed the chronically crippled woman, he affirmed her faith and then used the miracle to challenge the legalism of the religious leaders, using the Sabbath as an excuse to not do the work of God (Luke 13). Just as we cannot ignore our call to fight for justice, we also cannot fight for justice without constantly rooting our work in Jesus Christ. In many spaces where social justice takes place, this position is an uncomfortable one to take, but it is a necessary one if we wish to truly love others as Jesus commands us. God created us as both physical and spiritual people, and so we must address a person’s physical and spiritual needs.

In Matthew 25, Jesus says those who feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned will be blessed, as their actions to the least of these is ultimately done for him –but he also warns that we will be judged for the times we do not serve others. This is a pretty tall order. In a world that constantly reminds us of its – and our – brokenness, finding a foothold for justice can seem impossible. This is why our identity as Christians is crucial to our fight for justice. We must approach each of these good works in the power

Class of 2020 Media and Journalism, Global Studies