[This is a re-editing of a previous post. I can only hope that like the sermon "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God", this message becomes more powerful and relevant in its second run.]
There's a popular story about some folks who took a copy of the Bible and cut out every part that spoke of social justice. The claim is that there wasn't much after that.
I have a hard time believing the story though. You see, they actually sell Bible's like that, ones where everything that supports social justice has been removed. You can go to almost any bookstore in the western world and find one for sale. In fact I own not only one but several. One's even a parallel version with four different translations side by side. I actually like all of these versions of the Bible a lot.
Is it because I like editing out the stuff I don't like in the Bible? No, it's because every translation of the Bible I know of is like that. There is no support for social justice in the Bible. I can say all of the support for social justice has been removed because that support is nothing, and nothing has been removed.
As those who read me find out pretty quickly I'm an individualist and so it should come as no surprise that I might direct you to the story of Zacchaeus. This is one of the clearest individualist moments in the Gospels.
Luke 19:1-10
New International Version (NIV)
"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus;" .
Note that "he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy" i.e. Zacchaeus was the worst sort of rich man who made his money by cheating and through the abuse of government. Does this sound like a familiar story to what happens far too often today?
"He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way."
This is a big moment within the moment. "He wanted to see who Jesus was". In spite of all that the local people could justly see as bad about Zacchaeus he wanted to know "who Jesus was". That's the beginning of wisdom cubed. Not only did he admit there was something he didn't know worth knowing, but that something that he didn't know was Jesus Christ.
"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly."
Jesus addresses Zacchaeus individually and demands something of him, a place to stay the day. It's interesting that it was a demand and not a request. Jesus clearly knew something about this situation the rest didn't or still to this day don't. But the huge thing from Zacchaeus's point of view is that he welcomed Jesus gladly. I suspect at this point he was saved, though of course this could just be Zacchaeus being hospitable to a guest and not the more momentous acceptance of Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. So let's read on.
"All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.'"
The people are of course shocked at what they just saw happen between Jesus and this man. Not only has Jesus "gone to be the guest of a sinner" but one of the very worst in their eyes. I would add, in my eyes as well. He abused government power to enrich himself and the oppression of government is bad enough without people exploiting it. So unfortunately I could easily see myself in this crowd.
"But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.'"
Here Zacchaeus seems to be painfully aware of what the crowd is thinking and doesn't want them to think his bad past has somehow been justified, so he offers a penance.
"Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'"
Jesus's words here are where a huge lesson manages to hide from many of us.
"Today salvation has come to this house". Why? Because of Zacchaeus's offer to do penance? No of course not, not if we truly understand how Christ's gift of salvation works.
Jesus goes onto say, "because this man, too, is a son of Abraham." So is Jesus saying Zacchaeus is saved because he's a Jew? Is he saying he stopped being a Jew but became one again due to his penance? Once again not according to the nature of Christ's gift of salvation or what the Bible says about being a Jew for that matter.
Especially considering Jesus then follows the sentence with, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And who are the lost? Jesus told a few parables about "lost" things, sheep, coins, and each of them had two important things in common. One was that having the nine out of ten whatever they were was never good enough reason not to make finding the one that was missing a priority. And the second key thing was that whatever was lost, there was just one of them. It was never the lost group but always the lost one. So when Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost", I'm pretty sure He meant the individual. That is the lost message for many of us in the story of Zacchaeus.
What Jesus said about him being a son of Abraham was contextual, though not without great meaning itself. He was saying Zacchaeus was just as important to Him as any of them. But what the story of Zacchaeus should tell us is that Jesus came to save the individual and so much so that He risked the ire of groups of people in order to do it.
Jesus didn't die for your group. He died for you. His ministry, His mercy, His loving compassion is for individuals. Anyone who attempts to help groups at the expense of individuals is clearly not being as they may claim, "Jesus in the world".
Christ's love is not compatible with social justice. He calls me, He calls you, He calls individuals to reach out to individuals in need. And it should go without saying but it doesn't, if we attempt to reach out as a collective to groups we do something wrong. And what that wrong thing is, separating ourselves from His ministry. For His ministry is Him reaching individuals. The greatest individual of all reaching out to save the individual.
Each of us must try to see the individuals like Zacchaeus as He does. Not in terms of socio-econonics like wealth distribution or in terms of one group of people being more or less worthy than others. No group is getting saved. If that was His goal He would only have come once and we'd all live in the Kingdom of Israel. Individuals are who the son of man came for. He came to save the lost, the ones.
If you're not certain I know what I'm talking about, read those parables, read the prophets for that matter. Even in the prophets where Israel was being condemned God had a message to the individual that was faithful. He was going to save them. Read about the times when God would warn someone of imminent destruction for some nation or city and that person would attempt to negotiate with God. Always it would come down to saving the one, sparing the one.
Jesus Christ came to save Zacchaeus and He did. The city of Jericho where Zacchaeus lived on the other hand, we don't know how many were saved that day, just that one individual was.
As long as the perversion of the gospel that is social justice continues to infect Christianity I cannot seem to say this enough. Social justice must go. The individual today climbs a tree to see who Jesus is and instead of seeing Jesus in us, the individual gets knocked to the ground and condemned for his greed.
On judgement day will some of us need to answer why we failed to help "the least of these" and then say that we "thought some were getting what they deserved, that it was social justice."? I speak so that they can repent before it comes to that.
There's a popular story about some folks who took a copy of the Bible and cut out every part that spoke of social justice. The claim is that there wasn't much after that.
I have a hard time believing the story though. You see, they actually sell Bible's like that, ones where everything that supports social justice has been removed. You can go to almost any bookstore in the western world and find one for sale. In fact I own not only one but several. One's even a parallel version with four different translations side by side. I actually like all of these versions of the Bible a lot.
Is it because I like editing out the stuff I don't like in the Bible? No, it's because every translation of the Bible I know of is like that. There is no support for social justice in the Bible. I can say all of the support for social justice has been removed because that support is nothing, and nothing has been removed.
As those who read me find out pretty quickly I'm an individualist and so it should come as no surprise that I might direct you to the story of Zacchaeus. This is one of the clearest individualist moments in the Gospels.
Luke 19:1-10
New International Version (NIV)
"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus;" .
Note that "he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy" i.e. Zacchaeus was the worst sort of rich man who made his money by cheating and through the abuse of government. Does this sound like a familiar story to what happens far too often today?
"He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way."
This is a big moment within the moment. "He wanted to see who Jesus was". In spite of all that the local people could justly see as bad about Zacchaeus he wanted to know "who Jesus was". That's the beginning of wisdom cubed. Not only did he admit there was something he didn't know worth knowing, but that something that he didn't know was Jesus Christ.
"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly."
Jesus addresses Zacchaeus individually and demands something of him, a place to stay the day. It's interesting that it was a demand and not a request. Jesus clearly knew something about this situation the rest didn't or still to this day don't. But the huge thing from Zacchaeus's point of view is that he welcomed Jesus gladly. I suspect at this point he was saved, though of course this could just be Zacchaeus being hospitable to a guest and not the more momentous acceptance of Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. So let's read on.
"All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.'"
The people are of course shocked at what they just saw happen between Jesus and this man. Not only has Jesus "gone to be the guest of a sinner" but one of the very worst in their eyes. I would add, in my eyes as well. He abused government power to enrich himself and the oppression of government is bad enough without people exploiting it. So unfortunately I could easily see myself in this crowd.
"But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.'"
Here Zacchaeus seems to be painfully aware of what the crowd is thinking and doesn't want them to think his bad past has somehow been justified, so he offers a penance.
"Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'"
Jesus's words here are where a huge lesson manages to hide from many of us.
"Today salvation has come to this house". Why? Because of Zacchaeus's offer to do penance? No of course not, not if we truly understand how Christ's gift of salvation works.
Jesus goes onto say, "because this man, too, is a son of Abraham." So is Jesus saying Zacchaeus is saved because he's a Jew? Is he saying he stopped being a Jew but became one again due to his penance? Once again not according to the nature of Christ's gift of salvation or what the Bible says about being a Jew for that matter.
Especially considering Jesus then follows the sentence with, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." And who are the lost? Jesus told a few parables about "lost" things, sheep, coins, and each of them had two important things in common. One was that having the nine out of ten whatever they were was never good enough reason not to make finding the one that was missing a priority. And the second key thing was that whatever was lost, there was just one of them. It was never the lost group but always the lost one. So when Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost", I'm pretty sure He meant the individual. That is the lost message for many of us in the story of Zacchaeus.
What Jesus said about him being a son of Abraham was contextual, though not without great meaning itself. He was saying Zacchaeus was just as important to Him as any of them. But what the story of Zacchaeus should tell us is that Jesus came to save the individual and so much so that He risked the ire of groups of people in order to do it.
Jesus didn't die for your group. He died for you. His ministry, His mercy, His loving compassion is for individuals. Anyone who attempts to help groups at the expense of individuals is clearly not being as they may claim, "Jesus in the world".
Christ's love is not compatible with social justice. He calls me, He calls you, He calls individuals to reach out to individuals in need. And it should go without saying but it doesn't, if we attempt to reach out as a collective to groups we do something wrong. And what that wrong thing is, separating ourselves from His ministry. For His ministry is Him reaching individuals. The greatest individual of all reaching out to save the individual.
Each of us must try to see the individuals like Zacchaeus as He does. Not in terms of socio-econonics like wealth distribution or in terms of one group of people being more or less worthy than others. No group is getting saved. If that was His goal He would only have come once and we'd all live in the Kingdom of Israel. Individuals are who the son of man came for. He came to save the lost, the ones.
If you're not certain I know what I'm talking about, read those parables, read the prophets for that matter. Even in the prophets where Israel was being condemned God had a message to the individual that was faithful. He was going to save them. Read about the times when God would warn someone of imminent destruction for some nation or city and that person would attempt to negotiate with God. Always it would come down to saving the one, sparing the one.
Jesus Christ came to save Zacchaeus and He did. The city of Jericho where Zacchaeus lived on the other hand, we don't know how many were saved that day, just that one individual was.
As long as the perversion of the gospel that is social justice continues to infect Christianity I cannot seem to say this enough. Social justice must go. The individual today climbs a tree to see who Jesus is and instead of seeing Jesus in us, the individual gets knocked to the ground and condemned for his greed.
On judgement day will some of us need to answer why we failed to help "the least of these" and then say that we "thought some were getting what they deserved, that it was social justice."? I speak so that they can repent before it comes to that.
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