The nation needs the Christian witness

As I was growing up in my Baptist tradition, I was encouraged to be a witness. The focus of my witness was very narrow. My witness was to be about the death of Jesus for the sins of the world and the necessity of receiving Jesus as personal savior. Receiving Jesus as savior ensured entry into heaven. I was taught to carry my witness by quoting a lot of carefully selected Bible verses. Influencing people to receive Jesus was what witnessing was all about.

In retrospect, my Baptist Church was long on Jesus as savior and almost silent about Jesus as a teaching rabbi. Jesus spent a lot of his time talking about how people, communities and nations should live. In my experience, my church ignored the teacher side of Jesus. I was warned against the “social gospel” that “liberals” advocated. My witness was not to be geared to changing this world; rather, it was to be geared to preparing people for an eternal heaven with Jesus.

I have done a lot of mind changing over the past 60 years. I have not changed my commitment to witnessing. In fact, I love the idea of a witnessing church. One of my greatest challenges is Christian witnessing. There is nothing about witnessing that says “you must think the way I think.” Witnessing is an exercise in truth speaking without insisting that my witness is the whole truth. Thoughtful responses are always welcome and actually refine the quality of my witness.

I continue to feel free to share my personal faith in God through Jesus, my Christ. However, taking a cue from the teachings of Jesus, I feel compelled to speak about the practice of the teachings of Jesus in this world. I regret that many of our American churches are still singing the one note song about personal salvation. In addition, many of our pastors, churches and denominations remain silent in situations when the teachings of Jesus demand our witness. The world needs the witness of Christians about the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus.

Jesus was out of step with the power structures of his own day. His teachings were often filled with love, compassion and kindness as he encouraged his followers. However, at other times he was confrontational and demanded change. He did not confine himself to synagogue meetings to voice his convictions. He was very public and attracted big crowds. He confronted both the religious establishment and the political power brokers. He lived out the role of the witness. With compassion, he cared for the poor and the needy. He confronted the rich and the powerful. He took his witness to the public arena.

In many respects, the society of Jesus’ day was not unlike modern America. Everyday life in Palestine in the first century C.E. was dominated by the rich and the powerful. Masses of people cooperated with the rich and the powerful. They somehow believed that their best interests were found in cooperation with those who seemed to control everything. The result in first century Palestine was that the poor became poorer and grew in number. The rich grew richer. In Galilee in Northern Palestine, Jesus lived among a mass of people who were incredibly poor. History is filled with the phenomenon of poor people accepting the oppression of the rich and powerful as a way of survival for themselves. In his own day, Jesus identified himself with the poor and led the protest against the oppressors.

Is there any doubt about who controls America in 2013? The rich and the powerful. In America, the two are nearly synonymous. Billionaires and millionaires dominate elections and the typical member of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives is a millionaire. There is no shortage of people who find cooperation with the rich in their own best interests. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing. Middle class is shrinking. The number of poor Americans is growing.

The faith that Jesus inherited from his Israelite roots despised the rich. Wealth was to be shared. The tithe was tied to the wellbeing of widows and orphans. Slaves were to be set free, land was to be periodically redistributed among the Israelites, from time to time debts were to be canceled and charging interest on a loan was forbidden. Israelite laws for living had a predisposition toward the common good. Love of neighbor was a law that had deep roots in Israelite culture.

The Israelite tradition is a tradition of high ideals. But in Jesus’ day, the children of Israel had forgotten their ideals and traded them for selfishness. America also has roots of high ideals. In our Declaration of Independence, our founders said that some things were so obvious that they were “self-evident.” Those things that were “self-evident” were the basis for declaring American independence from an oppressive king of England. The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution calls the American States to establish justice and work for the general welfare. America now has a new crop of greedy people who have forgotten the high ideals of our founding documents. Rich corporations and their billionaire leaders are blind to the ideals that our founders found to be self-evident. Greed has robbed them of any concern about the general welfare and the common good.

The summary of Jesus’ social teaching is love of neighbor. Love of neighbor cannot be equated with common good and general welfare, but the relationship between the ideals of American democracy and Christian faith seems self-evident. Christians need to resurrect our witnessing skills and start talking about the ideals that drove Jesus in his public ministry. America and the world need to hear our witness.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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