The Benevolence Paradigm

I scan news headlines pretty much every day yet tend to gloss over the political section. Not that I’m disinterested so much...it just seems to drone on and on. To put it in a Shakespearean vernacular, it appears to be “much ado about nothing”.

When I do take the time to read through them, however, I often find myself riling up a righteous indignation. It appears so absurd that our government spends so much time focused on votes and offices, yet very little progress is made towards the basic needs of our nation e.g. feeding the hungry, housing the poor, etc. If only the Christian moral could be exercised we could hold our heads higher as a nation!

Then I go back to Jesus and scripture. My ultimate guidance counselor.

Granted, the scriptures don’t illuminate every moment of Jesus’ life, therefore some things must be understood in context alone. I have to believe, however, that the things presented by all the writers--especially in the gospels--are there for essential purposes and for our benefit. If it’s not addressed in scripture, it’s probably a matter not worth focusing on too much.

All that to say...nowhere do I find any account of Jesus beseeching the government to enact legislation or establish methodologies to address the poor, hungry and needy. It’s never written that He traveled to a new area of ministry and went to the leaders of that land to impress upon them their responsibility to take care of their citizens. Quite frankly, Jesus didn’t interact with leaders or governments much at all unless forced to.

It’s interesting that three of the gospels (which is a tell-tale sign to perk your ears up) author an account of Jesus being anointed with perfume by a women when visiting the town of Bethany. His disciples felt that wasting expensive perfume could have been better spent helping the poor. And Jesus’ reaction? “You’re always going have the poor, let this woman honor me as she sees fit.”

Extreme socialist views see a no-class, global parity among all the people. The reality is that our world is filled with needy, hungry and poor... and always will. Jesus dealt with these issues on a personal level everywhere He traveled and never once, at least from my reading of the scriptures, rallied the masses to have government change its ways. He had every attribute to be a revolution leader...yet He chose to be strong in a humble way, powerful in a personal way, compassionate in a meek way.

So what is the takeaway from this? What I find resonating within me is that perhaps it’s really not the role of government to fix all the civil woes of our land. Perhaps it is one of the many Christian callings to do as Jesus did. If you see someone in need, bless them in any way you can be it money, provisions, or prayer.

Perhaps I need to set aside my righteous indignation and face the fact that it may not be all that righteous. As a child of God I need to convey the attributes of God...it’s that simple. I know I will, from this point forward, concern myself with that much more than the misplaced concerns of what my government is or isn’t doing.

Greg Morton
Copyright © August, 2014

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