The Redemptive Economics of Jesus

When Jesus preached His first sermon in His hometown, Nazareth, He drew on the contents of Isaiah 58:6 and 60:1-61:7. However, He omitted all references to the following:

• All foreign rulers and nations coming to worship in Jerusalem (60:1-2)
• Jews who lived in foreign nations returning to Israel (60:4)
• The wealth of the nations being brought to Israel on ships and camels (60:5-7)
• Gentiles rebuilding ruined Jewish cities and towns (60:10)
• The destruction of nations that refuse to serve the Jewish people (60:12)
• Jewish people sucking up the wealth of surrounding nations (60:6)
• The Jewish people possessing the Promised Land forever (60:21)
• God taking vengeance on Gentiles who trouble His people (61:2)
• Gentiles serving as farmers and shepherds for the Jews (61:5-6)

But there is more. We need to see the events in Nazareth against the backdrop of the ancient year-long festival called Jubilee (Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15). For the Israelites, the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath, was the sign of the covenant that God made with them at Sinai. In addition, every seventh year was a Sabbath year (from which we get the term sabbatical). After a series of seven Sabbath years (a total of 49 years), the next year, the fiftieth, was to be a year-long festival of joy (jubilation) and celebration (Leviticus 25:10)---the Sabbath of Sabbaths of Sabbaths.

Moses gave the people special social legislation that was to be enacted during the Jubilee year:

• All debts were to be cancelled.
• All slaves were to be freed.
• All patrimonial land (inheritance) was to be returned to the family who originally owned the land.

Just as God had liberated Israel from slavery in Egypt and enriched them while they were experiencing poverty, so too Israel was to do the same for the poor and needy in its midst. However, when Jesus preached that sermon in Nazareth, His hearers became so angry with Him that they gave serious thought to throwing Him to His death off a cliff (Luke 4:28-29).

How would you like to have all your debts cancelled---all of them, including college loans, credit card balances, car payments, and your mortgage? You would celebrate with great passion! However, those to whom you owed all that money would become furious---very furious. But there is more. In His parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), Jesus teaches us that we own nothing--not even the body in which we live or the land or house or car that we claim to own.

A crucially important question: Are our people hearing or being taught these radically profound truths? If not, what are we going to do about that situation? Are we here to teach people how to feel good, or are we here to teach them how to be good---to reflect Jesus’ servant mind and manner in all that we think, say, and do?

What Do We Need to Do to Change Things?

In the year 2000, I was asked to write the cover article for the church growth publication Net Results. The article was titled, “How to Motivate and Guide Local Congregations into Global Ministry.” I included in the article some significant statistics that I had unearthed. Although they have changed these past 13 years, they are essential pondering for God’s people in relation to what they focus on in life.

If the World’s Population Were 100 People*:

• 50 would be female and 50 male
• 60 would be Asians
• 14 would be North and South Americans
• 11 would be European
• 15 would be Africans
• 25 would be under 15 years old
• 33 would be Christian
• 22 would be Muslim
• 14 would be Hindu
• 7 would be Buddhist
• 12 would believe in another religion
• 12 would not be religious
• 70 would be non-white
• 17 would be unable to read and write
• 15 would suffer from malnutrition
• 13 would not have access to safe drinking water
• 30 would be on the Internet
• 7 would have a college education
•  6 would own 59% the world’s wealth, and all 6 would be U.S. citizens 

Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D. C., reported the following**:

• $17 billion: The amount spent in the U.S. and Europe on pet food each year
• $13 billion: The increased annual amount needed to provide basic health care and nutrition for all people in developing countries
• $9 billion: The additional amount needed annually to provide clean water and safe sewers for the world’s population
• $8 billion: The amount that Americans spend each year on cosmetics
• $6 billion: The additional amount needed annually to provide basic education for everyone in the world

In relation to the management of creation and the use of life, God’s people must ask, “What do we and the world at large need to do to change things?”

* http://www.100people.org/statistics_detailed_statistics.php

** http://www.worldwatch.org/node/764

Church Members or Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters?

The staff of Crossways International meets together three times each week for Bible Study and prayer. Each of us takes a turn to lead in prayer. When I do so, I make regular reference to us being Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Recently, a staff member shared with me that he does not hear much about these terms in his church life. Sad to say, all too often worshipers look to the pastor as their salaried church leader and substitute worker and on themselves as church members. In relation to this issue, we would do well to ponder Jesus’ words in Mark 3:31–35.

The fact that we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters has profound implications. Jesus calls us to walk in His presence throughout life, and to reflect His servant lifestyle in all that we think, say, and do. In His parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13–21), Brother Jesus teaches us that we own nothing. We do not own the ground on which we walk or the crops that the land produces, nor do we own the body in which we live. Everything is on loan from God, the Maker and Owner of all creation. We mortals merely manage what belongs to God.

Christian communities (better yet, Jesus’ family members) would do well to ponder Acts 2:43–47 and 4:32–37. These two passages describe how the first Christians related to each other. They lived together in community and did not claim ownership of anything. They sold “their” possessions and goods and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. There was no needy person among them. They broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

These days, we hear more and more about young adults becoming disenchanted with life in a traditional congregation, and they are devising ways to establish caring, sharing, serving fellowship groups. This is food for thought for older church “members.” Some “traditional” Christians want the focus to be on confessing that we are sinners, that Jesus died for our sins, and that we shall go to heaven after we die. True enough, but there is so much more to life in God’s family.

The first two parishes that I served were in New Zealand. Soon after I began my ministry in that Land of the Long White Cloud, I attended a gathering of clergy and fellow-believers to watch a presentation by the New Zealand Presbyterian Church which focused on the implications of being a member of Jesus’ family. One statement that I heard has remained with me: “While one person on Planet Earth is lacking proper food, water, and healthcare, we should not sleep in peace.” Food for thought!

Sometimes when I share the message and implications of the two Acts passages referred to above, some church leaders respond that they would find it difficult to proclaim such insights to their people. The message would upset them. Yes, Jesus’ teaching upset many religious leaders and people. But the Father gave His Son a “Yes!” vote when He raised Him from the dead. If God the Father voted “Yes!” in relation to His Son’s message and ministry, should not we do the same?