Sunday, November 5, 2023
Jesus and Poverty: Preaching Power for Poor People – Liz Theoharis/Kairos Center
“This article grows out of the intensity of poverty and dispossession in contemporary America and the urgency of poor people’s efforts to build a movement to end poverty…
“…instead of developing the faith that ending poverty is possible, we ignore the controversial, revolutionary nature of a poor, resurrected Jesus as Lord and Savior, who challenges the wealthy, immortalized Caesar. We forget that Jesus’ Kingdom is about economic and social rights in the here and now and that the messiah Jesus came to usher in this reign. The good news of the Bible has been reduced to an individualized acceptance of Jesus Christ as a Lord and Savior, severed from his mission to the world. And even that mission has been hollowed out by selective and superficial quotation, reduced to a patronizing and charity-centered care for the poor that leaves the structures of oppression and exploitation intact. We deny that the poor are God’s people and are at the center of God’s concern, and ignore that Jesus was a leader of a revolutionary movement of the poor who, rather than mitigating the unfortunate, inevitability of poverty, called for a movement to transform heaven and earth.”
The Evangelicals Calling for War on Poor People – New Republic