In the last post, I looked at Jesus calling a new community. This witnessing community would be drawn into deep fellowship, accountability, and ministry. They would be the people of God - people where God's spirit could be seen at work. The lines of who was a respectable member of this community were carefully constructed in Jesus day. The teachers of the law could tell who was a "sinner". Extrapolated from the purity codes of the Decalogue, those who could not tithe properly (poor), those who could not get to the temple (poor or infirmed), those who were outside the set power structure (women, the landless, gentiles) were known to be "outside" the kingdom.
Jesus, in some of the most fascinating ways, called the sick, the infirmed, the landless, the poor, women, and occasionally a gentile, and invited them into the kingdom. This up-side down order is one of the main reasons that he was marked to be killed - too radical of a redrawing of God's community.
Today's church (slowly coming to grips with our addiction to power (Christendom) is barely beginning to realize that Jesus ministry among the poor and outcasts was not coincidental to the gospel. Jesus paradigm of ministry included unmasking the ways that power, priviledge, and wealth cut against what God wants for his community. He did so by specially inviting "the least" into the joys of the kingdom community.
What grade do we, the contemporary church, get on our report card in responding to the needy and poor. Do we simply minister to them as a church program, or do we invite them into our midst. Are we conscious of the ways that we lean toward power and wealth, and discount the poor, sick and afflicted? The world is waiting to see how we will respond...
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