Treating People as We Would Treat Jesus

Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”  Jesus continued in Matthew 25:45, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  Have you ever wondered who counts as “the least of these?”  Well, an expert in the law wanted to know who counted as his neighbor and Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Afterward, the lawyer answered that the neighbor was, “The one who showed him mercy,” (Luke 10:37).  Add this to Jesus’s command to “Love your enemies,” (Matthew 5:44) and no person can really be excluded from the category of people we are supposed to look after, care for, and love.

On Sunday, I gave you a type of rubric to use to judge whether policies of our government follow Jesus’s gospel message.  They were:

•  Does this policy feed the hungry, provide clean water, or shelter the homeless?
•  Does this policy heal people’s body, mind, or soul?
•  Does this policy help us to be less judgmental of other people’s lives or choices?
•  Does this policy help us to welcome the strangers among us?
•  Does this policy prioritize the health of the entire community, not just a subsection of it?
•  Does this policy lead people to repentance of wrongdoing and work toward repair and reconciliation?
•  Does this policy prevent the hoarding of wealth by the rich and powerful?
•  Does this policy hold powerful people accountable for their actions?

If the answer is no, I suggest that Jesus would advocate burning away that policy to make room for one that is more just and equitable.

But today, I have a different mental exercise for you: imagine Jesus being the person that the policies affect.  Jesus was born poor in a village of peasant families.  Jesus learned a trade (woodcutting or stonecutting, depending on the sources).  Where he lived was ruled by an oppressive empire that squashed political opposition.

When I think about how we treat people in our country, I imagine Jesus in the people’s place.  How would it change what we are doing if Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, was:

•  a child in Gaza at this moment?
•  an undocumented immigrant detained by ICE and taken to Alligator Alcatraz? 
• a child at school being taught how to hide under their desk in case of an active shooter?
•  a sweatshop seamstress working 12 hours a day for poverty wages sewing t-shirts that American consumers will wear once while the manager locks the doors so she can’t escape?
•  a black teen being chastised by the school cop because he was wearing his hood up in the hallway?
•  a disabled adult who is being kicked off Medicaid because they made a simple error in their paperwork when re-applying for benefits?
•  a single mother working 60 hours a week to provide for her family who is being kicked off her SNAP benefits because she didn’t have the time or energy to re-do the paperwork to prove she still qualified for benefits.

This isn’t just a mental exercise; if we take Jesus’s words seriously, these people ARE Jesus.  “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me, [and] just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

Blessings,
Pastor Chris