Do you know that Jesus lived a simple life? What if I tell you Jesus was a commoner who walks not with the temple high-ups and authority figures during his days but instead identified with sinners and the marginalized?
Studying Jesus’s life and ministry, I was convicted and challenged by his counter-cultural ways of living. Simplicity, generosity and self-sacrifice marked His life. He lived a simple life. He ministered to strangers, prostitutes, and tax collectors who were hated by people in His days. And contrary to how I’ve been taught all my life to pursue my own interest first, Jesus laid down his life to serve frail humans like me and commanded us to go do likewise(Phil 2).
Often the Savior who was born as the Son of Man, as referred in Daniel 7:13-14, in the likeness of men is trivialized in comparison to His divinity as the wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa 9:6) Churches overwhelmingly preach on the death and resurrection of Jesus and not enough on His life and ministry.
If we love Jesus, we too must love what he loves and hate what he hates. We develop a passion for what God is passionate about and He is passionate about justice.
What will it look like to truly be His followers who are called to “take up our cross and follow Him?”
The Bible contains more than 300 verses on the poor, social justice, and God's deep concern for both (whereas there are only 6 verses on homosexuality!) We often get so fixated on ceremonial cleanliness that we forget the weightier matter of the law to “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Matt 22:39)
Who is my neighbor? What kind of love does it mean? My professor put it this way: To love our neighbor as ourselves means that we are to put pursuit of the neighbor’s shalom (emotional, physical, mental well-being) on a par with pursuit of my own. So long as I know of neighbors in reach of my love but without the enough of shalom—enough food, clothing, shelter, safety, etc., and I have the means to help them without sacrificing my inclusion in the shalom community, we are to lend a helping hand.
As challenging as it, it is though, more of an invitation to joy than another thing to check off the list. This whole semester God has been teaching me what it means to be a good steward of the resources handed to me. When Scripture says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”, I had to look into my bank account to check where I’ve been spending most on my money on. One day, during a Gala Dinner for a mission organization, I felt strongly the Lord wanted me to give a specific amount. Though I ended up obeying, I strongly hesitated, reasoned, and questioned this call. How easy it is to go online and buy the ‘New-ins’ but it is hard to give away money for missions.
Wealth has a way to twist the heart. God often exposes pockets of idols in our hearts when we are confronted with others’ need. How I spend His gifts—money, time, and energy—shows what I truly value.
“You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. “ –James 4:4
Jesus has hard sayings on wealth.
Matt 6:19-24 emphasizes to “accumulate treasures in heaven.” The parallel passage in Luke 12:32 suggests we do that by “selling your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor.” Immediately following that bit of teaching comes the injunction to not worry about you’ll eat, drink, or wear (Matt 6:25). It may well be that there is Jewish hyperbole in play in these and related passages, but their import is clear: Jesus enjoins his followers to aggressively divest themselves of excess wealth in service of those on the margins.
Peter Singer and many early Christian writers argued for a similar view of Jesus on wealth. Singer argued: “the poor and needy have a right to my surplus wealth, all of it. The use of my surplus to care for the poor and needy is not a matter of charity—good but not obligatory—but a matter of justice."
“ it is monstrous for one to live in luxury, while many are in want.”-Clement of Alexandria
This sounds extreme, however, the more we see this in light of Jesus’ life, the more convincing this argument will be. Jesus not only takes the side of the poor, He puts himself in their place.
As we journey together in this Jesus-following, I pray we will continue to live simply and generously like Jesus, to stand with those on the margin like Jesus, to love others as ourselves like Jesus.
Let us start using all our God-given resources to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission—to love and too go. Let us shine Jesus through our good deeds to others.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
”
There is enough darkness around us already that we all should stop comparing our lights with each other but shine each of ours ever so brightly. May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, or at least, someone’s world through your self-sacrificial love, mirroring that of Jesus.
X,
Tam
