How Far We've Fallen.
If it's not the good news of Jesus if it's not good news for the poor.
It’s just becoming more apparent that the government helping anyone less fortunate is just considered “wasteful” or “inefficient.”
This is clear in the programs targeted in the name of “government efficiency.” It is all programs that are geared towards the common good, like veterans affairs, school food programs, WHO, CDC, FEMA, NGOs, environmental protections, medicaid, and so much more.
This is happening on local levels too. For example, here an Idaho, a bill (HB 138) is heading to the senate to slash Medicaid and leave more than 90,000 Idahoans without healthcare. Proposed by the party that claims to be the “Christian Party.”
We seem to have forgotten exactly what made Christianity distinct and thrive in the first three centuries of its existence: radical care for all people.
In Ancient Rome, religious groups exclusively cared for their own and no one else. Christians and Jews on the other hand were revolutionary. They extended care and generosity to the poor of every race, caste, and creed. This attracted multitudes of people to their way of life.
It was so radical that even Emperor Julian (331-363) wrote a letter to a priest from his own religious group and said, “We ought then to share our money with all people, but more generously with the good, and with the helpless and poor so as to suffice for their need.
And I will assert, even though it be paradoxical to say so, that it would be a pious act to share our clothes and food even with the wicked.
For it is to the humanity in a person that we give, and not to their moral character. Hence I think that even those who are shut up in prison have a right to the same sort of care, since this kind of philanthropy will not hinder justice.…
For it is disgraceful that, when no Jew ever has to beg, and the impious Galileans (Christians) support not only their own poor but ours as well, all men see our people lack aid from us.”
What a radical reputation. How far we’ve fallen.
This radical and revolutionary character of ancient Christianity that was the direct outcome of their commitment to the teachings of Jesus began to dwindle and change as Christianity fused itself more and more with the Roman Empire.
Many Christians became enamored with power and wealth rather than the "least among them," which ultimately brought about great harm to the world.
I believe we are seeing that long legacy of harm still playing itself out today. Instead of being an example of revolutionary care for all people that even the empires of this world take notice and want to replicate, far too much of Christianity's reputation in our time is known for being entitled, selfish, judgmental, authoritarian, and only caring about their own religious group.
It is still about power and wealth rather than the poor and the powerless.
May we see and call out for a revival of that ancient Christian reputation in our world today.
“Whatever you do for the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you do unto me.” -Jesus
Modern Christianity out here speedrunning the Book of Revelation while skipping the Sermon on the Mount like it’s optional fine print.
Once upon a time, Christians were known for sneaking bread into prisons, healing strangers, and giving away their last cloak with a “God bless you” and no tax receipt. Now, some would rather audit the poor than aid them. The only loaves they multiply are stock options, and the only healing they offer is “thoughts and prayers,” usually after cutting someone’s Medicaid.
Rev. Cremer’s pointing out the real miracle: that in the early centuries, the church actually resembled Jesus. Wild, I know.
What made Christianity magnetic wasn’t doctrine, dogma, or a doomsday countdown clock—it was a radical, scandalous generosity that made emperors nervous. Now, we’ve traded that for culture wars and premium parking spots at megachurches.
It's not the Good News if it only sounds good to shareholders.
Time to resurrect the revolution—not with swords, but with soup kitchens, sanctuary, and stubborn love.
#FeedThePoorOrStopQuotingJesus #ChristianityIsNotAMembershipClub #BringBackTheWeirdosWhoCare #VirginMonkBoySaidIt
Your last quotation from Jesus is one which runs through my mind every time I am exposed to cold, merciless, judgmental people who somehow profess to be Christian. As a child, my daily religious instruction focused on the New Testament. It focused on the acts and words of a man who emphasized loving everyone and treating everyone with respect, kindness, acceptance, compassion, and mercy. Jesus gave his attention to the people who were sick, poor, or marginalized for some other reason. If he were here today, he would do the same and would be accused of being too liberal, "woke", et cetera and he would be disparaged by the so-called "Christians" in the US who appear to have skipped the New Testament so they could memorize the Book of Leviticus.