Conservative Ideology

I've read the entire Bible in three languages & in various versions beginning in 6th Grade. (I lost count of how many times after the first 8 systematic readings.) I've studied, translated, and taught it for decades. I've read commentaries, taught Sunday school, preached, listened to sermons, gone to conferences, graduated from seminary, and gone back for further study.

The Bible does not jive with conservative ideologies. Yahweh's economics place people over profits. Yahweh's welcome is for outsiders. Jesus was killed by those clinging to the status quo of power structures, heritage, and culture. Jesus tells us to love one another, then goes beyond that, saying #LoveYourEnemies.

The Bible is not about propping up power structures, upholding cultural traditions, or clinging to the old ways. It consistently calls us to embrace new categories of people we have yet to see as loved by God. It consistently demands that poverty be seen as an evil for which society bears responsibility. It constantly calls us out of a place of comfort to get our hands dirty with the redemption of lepers, sinners, alcoholics, prostitutes, foreigners, immigrants, and strangers.

Where we hear a message condemning a class of people as unworthy, we are not hearing from Jesus. Where we hear promises of wealth for a select few, we are not hearing the promises of Jesus. Where we hear claims that some are more worthy than others, we are not hearing a message of God's grace that abolishes questions of worth.

Jesus lifted women to an equal status with men on more than one occasion. Jesus lauded immigrants and foreigners as having greater faith than his compatriots. Jesus called out the wealthy for allowing poverty to exist at their doorstep. Jesus called out the powerful for allowing injustice on their watch. Jesus denigrated the importance of the Temple in contrast to ministering to the needs of the people around him.

Conservative ideologies are about the protection of those things Jesus did not come to redeem. For Jesus, wielding power appropriately is always about using it for the benefit of those with the least power--of serving those in greatest need.

It is high time we reclaim the message of the Bible, the principles of the gospel. Jesus did not establish an institution, a culture, or a political structure. He did, however, leave us with a mission to include, reconcile, redeem, and welcome all of those society has ignored as unworthy of our attention.

The Hebrews were redeemed from the world's only superpower as a demonstration of Yahweh's care for the oppressed. The prophets consistently called the people to remember where they had come from, allowing Yahweh's grace to flow through them as they interfaced with outsiders, strangers, and immigrants. If we would be "People of the Book," we would do well to remember that the book calls us to display God's welcome, care, protection, and justice for all people, especially those our society likes to demean and marginalize.

The Bible does not prop up conservative ideologies. If anything, it calls them down for failing to measure up to the grace of God for all people. Grace is not conservative. Grace is about as liberal as can be. As far as Jesus is concerned, that's a good thing.
— ©Copyright 2021, Christopher B. Harbin

http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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