POOR CHRISTIANS
Most of Jesus’ early followers seem to have come from the middle working class, the poor and those without power. There were a few people of means but they seem to be far outnumbered by the others. Jesus interacted with the rich and powerful but few seem to have become his followers.
The church I attend was at one time made up of people whose incomes were considerably more than mine, people who had influence in our community and whose jobs were respected. Over the years I have seen a shift. We now have a recovery program. We are involved in some food kitchens. We have hosted the Homeless in our church. One Sunday I noted that our Usher Team included a Medical Doctor, a person in recovery and a convict on parole. I felt proud of our congregation. It seems to increasingly reflect Jesus’ original group.
Somewhere, between Jesus’ time and our time, the church switched from being made up of unimportant powerless people and slaves to one in which its members were community leaders and financially comfortable.
I don’t think that is wrong! But I do think that it may cause us to see much of Jesus teaching differently than his early followers. We do not value his teachings about “the poor in spirit”, persecution and money the same way those who first heard his teaching did. We struggle to understand the full anti-cultural message of the Sermon on The Mount.
Jesus taught us to pray for “our daily bread”. That phrase does not have the meaning for us it did for early Christians. Few of us are concerned about where our next meal is coming from. Praying for “our daily bread” implies that I am concerned about where that meal is coming from. That has seldom been a concern for me. I could survive a year out of my freezer. I am afraid that many of us know more about obesity than hunger. We want far more than bread. We are looking for steak. Being dependent upon God for our next meal and praying for it is not a part of our daily lives. We know where it is coming from. Just look in the refrigerator.
When taxes are due few of us go fishing.
Few are concerned about a debtor’s prison.
I have never felt persecuted.
I do not live in a land with an occupation army.
I am not on the lowest rung of the social order.
I live in a far different world, than Jesus’ early followers. I have to stop and think about what it meant to the 1st-century followers of Jesus. It is a difficult transition. If someone slaps me, I will slap back or call the cops. Much of American Evangelical Christianity misses the impact as we tend to look at life from the top down rather than from the bottom up as many of his early followers did.
Imagine life working two day-jobs but still not having an apartment, a car, or a credit card. Or imagine living in a shelter, dependent on a food kitchen for meals, thrift stores for clothes and looked down on by much of society as lazy. Most of us would have a hard time even imagining that. But if we could, we would hear Jesus’ stories far differently than we do now. Try it. See what happens. Many 3rd world followers have a far different worldview and theology than American believers.