Christ the Radical

July 20, 2009 · Filed Under Liberals, Religion, Republicans

Jesus Christ would not have many friends in contemporary society. That is the conclusion I reached reading through the gospels.

This might seem hard to believe. America is a religious place, at least compared to other western democracies. A Pew study last year found that ninety-two percent believe in God, and sixty-three percent say they believe in sacred scripture as the word of God.

Scripture is often invoked in our politics too. Opponents of gay marriage love to quote Leviticus—“you shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable”—to justify their position. For their part, religious liberals like Christ’s declaration that “whatever you do to the least of these you have done unto me.”

But in their zeal to invoke Jesus, liberals and conservatives alike have neglected much of what he taught during his life. For example, Christ didn’t have great things to say about the materialism that is so rampant today. When a rich man asked what he had to do to become perfect, Jesus replied that he needed to sell all of his possessions and follow him; the rich man wept for he had many possessions.

Christ then says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to go to heaven. Some economic conservatives might be inclined to accuse anyone else who said this of stirring up class warfare. Many Americans would likely leave a church where the pastor told them that their constant pursuit of wealth made it harder for them to gain entry into heaven.

On sexual morality, Jesus would be far out of the mainstream today. He said “whosoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” All the young men who look at porn would mock someone who told them that their movie collections made them adulterers.

Jesus would appear just as out of place in discussions on divorce. He said “whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her.” Today, around half of all marriages end in divorce. It’s probably fair to say that these people don’t consider themselves adulterers. They would resent anyone who told them they were. To be sure, there is debate about whether there are some just causes for a divorce. However, it is hard to believe that Jesus would think that half of all marriages have such a just cause.

It drives me crazy to see the Bible selectively invoked like it is. Many of the people who use religion to make their judgments about gay people have said not a word against people who watch porn every night on their computers. They don’t spend nearly as much time complaining about how couples who divorce are undermining the institution of marriage. We aren’t supposed to pick passages we like to follow, and ignore passages that challenge our behavior.

Hypocrites ready to use the Bible to condemn others would benefit from another one of Christ’s ideas: let he who is without sin cast the first stone. When subjecting our behavior to Christ’s rigorous standards, it becomes clear that there aren’t a lot of people qualified to be throwing stones around these days.

The Jesus of the Bible clearly defies political classification. He was neither liberal nor conservative. But he was radical. Probably too radical for most of us.

-Marcus Gadson

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