Jesus, Revolutionary of the Poor

Matthew's Subversive Messiah

Bredin

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781532642548
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Is Jesus relevant to the sufferings of the helpless, the voiceless, those dying of hunger, those traumatized by violence, people with learning difficulties? In Matthew, we see Jesus to be a man on the frontline, battling against the forces that stop the non-poor from living generously, and the poorest of the poor living abundantly the way God intended. This is Jesus as one who in his very being is an expression of God's wrath against human beings who live their lives as if creation is a battle zone where only the selfish and powerful flourish. Matthew's Jesus is outraged at the lethargy and apathy that permits non-poor people to live according to practices that lead so many to be excluded from the fruits of God's creation. But the Jesus found in this gospel is also one who teaches that God has created a world that is good to see; it is abundant as long as people live according to the dynamic order God has inwardly established in creation, one rooted in generosity, hospitality, love, self-sacrifice, righteousness, justice, Torah, and mercy.

Part One

Introduction

Creation and Poverty

Creation’s not about efficiency, it’s about love. It’s about shedding blood, sweat and tears to make the thing you care about come right.34 —Susan Howatch

I believe that oppression and violence are to be understood in the context of a biblical doctrine of creation. Our failure to behold the goodness of God as generous and abundant leads to an understanding of goodness as mean, competitive, and self-empowering. Creation is not seen as abundant and overflowing with God’s love, but a place of scarcity wherein each struggles to survive. Those who prosper are the “good” men and women in society’s eyes who have manipulated situations to their own benefit neglectful of the suffering of others.

Ellen Davis argues that modern readings of the Bible in general don’t fully appreciate God’s goodness present in creation in the Bible. She writes: “if we who read the Bible, each in our own place, stretch our minds to reimagine the land we know as a home to be cherished, that effort will make us better readers of Scripture.”35 To some extent this chapter draws upon the agrarian insights that put material readings at the heart of biblical interpretation.

This study also picks up on Lohfink’s claim: “God is the creator. He created an abundant fullness of reality. He wills a world of wealth; he wills the overflowing happiness of his creatures.”36 When this happens God sees that creation is full of His goodness. When this does not happen God is angry and acts in favor of the poor.

Human beings’ failure to see creation as belonging to God means seeing creation as ungenerous and limited. I show this premise leads to violence and oppression, permitting the powerful to pile up wealth that creates poverty. Such thinking has no place for the biblical idea that creation is designed to be a home fit for all its inhabitants as they each strive generously to serve the needs of others.

Therefore, the failure to perceive what is good in creation is the failure of humanity to experience God as Creator and God’s goodness in it. Ellen Davis observes that in post-Enlightenment societies human cultures began to fail to perceive what is good.37 However, such views I show are particularly evident also in the Bible which considerably pre-dates the Enlightenment. Davis draws our attention to the importance of the word and notion of “good/ness.” This leads us to believe ourselves to be gods, and the goodness that there is, has no rootedness in God or biblical depictions of God’s actions of liberating the poor. Biblical faith states that the goodness of God is in creation. God is goodness and His goodness is revealed in creation.

In Part One, I emphasize the extent to which God’s goodness is fully present in creation when it is an abundant home wherein each cherishes the other. This biblical teaching is in contrast to seeing it as a place of scarcity wherein we must fight for survival. I observe that such teaching is often hammered out in polemic against the godless worldview that perceives goodness in terms of battle and competition. This ultimately leads to an oppressed and impoverished poverty class who have no voice, no skills, and no hopes. The existence of poverty reveals that we neither trust God nor believe His creation is a hospitable and generous home. Consequently, punishment and wrath, so strong in the Old Testament (especially the prophets) and Matthew, evince how God abhors poverty because His creation is not behaving as He intended.

34. Howatch, The High Flyer, 583.

35. Davis, Scripture, 27.

36. Lohfink, Option for the Poor, 9.

37. Davis, Scripture, 46.

1

The Goodness of God in Creation

Our gracious Creator cares and provides for all his creatures. His tender mercies are over all his works.38 —John Woolman

The cause of the creation of the world was God’s abundant goodness.39 —Sophrony

As I see it, God is all that is good, He made all that is made, and loves all He has made.40 —Julian of Norwich

Each person is unique and important, whatever their culture, religion, abilities or disabilities.41 —Jean Vanier

God sees creation as ṭob (good, goodness) seven times in Genesis 1 (verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and 31). The Bible is rooted in the belief that creation is an expression of God’s goodness. Goodness (Hebrew: ṭôb)describes God as merciful and showing limitless love (Psalm 69:16; 100:5a; 106.1; 109:5, 21; 118.1, 29; 136.1); the very name of God is ṭôb (Psalm 54:6); ṭôb is also the food and drink needed for humans to be satisfied (Genesis 3:6; Psalms 103:5; 107.1; 107:9c; Isaiah 1:19). In fact “good” can refer to food and drink with the word “goods” (Ecclesiastes 5:11 and others). According to Isaiah, to do “good” (ṭôb) is to rescue the oppressed and poor (1:17). Therefore, creation is good (ṭôb) to the extent that it corresponds to God’s goodness which is consistent with the equitable distribution of creation’s goods. I propose that the goodness of creation God sees refers to a harmonious beauty which inspires the beholder to give him or herself to others so they flourish.

According to Genesis 2:18, God says: “It is not good that man should be alone.” This is in contrast to the seven occurrences of “good” in Genesis 1; good in creation is relational, harmonious, and dynamic. The goodness of God is vibrant and best understood in terms of creation-in-process of change and development. Central to this goodness is “togetherness.” Creation is an expression and channel of G...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: Introduction: Creation and Poverty
• Part Two: Introduction: The Inner-Order of Creation
• Part Three: Introduction: The Poorest of the Poor
• Epilogue: Caring for my Brothers and Sisters
• Bibliography