Jesus Christ lived on earth during one of mankind’s most trying times. In the Middle East where He spent His earthly tenure, life was extremely hard for a large portion of the population. Disease and poverty were at an extreme level. The Israelite people to whom and for whom He came were at that time living under a harsh dictatorial regime whose local rulers had little regard for the Israelite people whom they viewed as only slightly above animals. At no time did Jesus tell His followers to try to bring about social justice for themselves. He advocated no social movements, no marches against the injustices they suffered at the hands of the brutal Romans.

In the series of postings titled Church Generosity I pointed out that Jesus taught us to be compassionate toward those less fortunate. However, He did not send His followers out into the community to find, feed, house, medicate and support those outside their group. Jesus told His people that, “when you can,” they were to help the poor whom they would always have “with (among) you,” meaning among true believers (Mat. 26:11). Recall that when the apostles were contacted on behalf of the “widows” in the church, Stephen was dispatched to help THEM, not the community at large. They were commanded to help “widows and orphans” within the church only. And when Paul was collecting food to take to Jerusalem, he would be taking it to “the poor believers” in Jerusalem, not those outside the church.

One of the passages of Scripture used by Social Gospel advocates is Matthew 19:14 where Jesus is speaking to the apostles who had tried to prevent children from approaching Him: “Let the little children come unto Me and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Religious consensus holds that Jesus was telling His followers to take care of anyone who needed help of any kind. But notice that mothers had sent their children for Him to PUT HIS HANDS ON THEM AND PRAY. They did not expect Him or His people to feed, house, cloth, medicate, etc. them on a continuous basis. And notice that after praying for them He SENT THEM AWAY. Notice also that when the multitudes came to hear Him speak, He spoke, healed and fed them, THEN SENT THEM AWAY. He did not appoint a committee to take care of them after that. Nor did He tell them to go into the surrounding communities, find the physically needy and permanently meet their needs. His commission was to go into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS, not feed, clothe, house, etc. all needy people. Those who were not commissioned to preach the gospel were to support those who were. He was telling the church to spread His gospel spiritually by speaking it and physically by living it. Everyone in the church is involved in some fashion in spreading God’s Word. Taking care of those outside the church was not part of their commission.

Jesus showed passion for the poor, the sick, the outcasts of society. But consider how many desperate people He must have walked by as He journeyed from one place to another. How many sick and injured people lay around the Pool called Bethesda? “Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a GREAT MULTITUDE of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered ….” Yet He healed only one man. How many widows and orphans did He encounter and pass by without helping them? We do not know specifically, but surely they numbered in the hundreds, possibly thousands.

In terms of social justice, the Lord never told His followers to become involved in trying to right the wrongs of the society, nor to involve themselves in politics or social change. Theirs was not the job of righting social, economic or political wrongs, but to tell people about the Word/will/way of God and live it before them. We are told to love our neighbors as we love ourselves (Mat. 22:39). I do so. But I do not expect those around me to meet my needs when things go bad for me. Notice in Matthew 25:34-40,45 that Jesus told us to care for the sick, hungry, thirsty and imprisoned among “My brethren”–His obedient followers. In as much as we do that unto the needy in the true church, we do it unto Him. We are to let those outside the church take care of their own kind; we are to “Let the (spiritually) dead bury the (spiritually) dead.” Our commission is to “come follow Me.” L.J.