We often fear the impact of faith on politics, or of politics on faith. The real problem is that we think faith isn’t political.
May 13 | Luke 9:10-17
One of the easiest ways to settle most disputes is to say we shouldn’t talk about politics. It short circuits most conversations. Even the word sullies our mood. Politics.
Of course, the word politics comes from polis, the people. The point of politics is always about people. And when talking about the needs of people in a hurting world, well…politics is literally the word for it.
Our story today from Luke is a perfect example of the politics of Jesus.
Jesus sent them out
We jump into Luke, chapter 9, after Jesus took his closest followers and told them to Go, do what I do, out in the world. They are supposed to go out with nothing, relying on the generosity of strangers. Go be like Jesus in every direction.
So they go out in pairs and do exactly that. They go be like Jesus.
But not just in attitude. They’re not paying it forward somewhere. No little random acts of kindness. They are being Jesus in the world; healing and proclaiming the Good News.
This is when we jump into the story: when they come back having done this good stuff, this being Jesus for the people who need him.
No private moments
Jesus tries to give the disciples space to tell him all about it. He wants to hear their stories. But they can’t have it. People just won’t leave them alone. They needed him—the stories, the grace, the healing. Their need was inescapable.
And when everyone’s getting tired, feeling like they have nothing left, and the crowds keep coming, the disciples start freelancing. They think maybe Jesus should send the people away to feed themselves. Maybe heal themselves. A little pull-themselves-up-by-their-bootstraps action.
Because they’re looking around and seeing nothing. They’re tapped. And this isn’t an orchard or a berry farm. This is desert.
Of course, they’re no longer being Jesus.
Jesus tells them to share
It strikes me that the disciples are being practical. How could they possibly feed thousands of people? And don’t forget how exhausted they all are.
So when they try to outsource responsibility for these crowds, to put the responsibility for these sheep onto another shepherd, Jesus says
“You give them something to eat.”
They’re looking at their conditions and choosing they can no longer be like Jesus. But Jesus doesn’t stop being Jesus based on his material conditions. He doesn’t look around and go “It’s a shame there’s no food.”
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve done just that. Too many.
In saying “You give them something to eat” Jesus doesn’t let the disciples shed their responsibility. And guess what? They aren’t actually tapped out.
Some bread and fish. Hardly enough to feed them in these lean times. To make it fair, those pieces of bread are going to have be tiny!
Doing the work
We make it so easy to focus on the miracle of Jesus feeding these people that we rarely stop to think about the impact on the disciples. What it cost them and yet benefited them all the same.
How they could do miraculous things when they had nothing, but became shrewd with the last bit of food they had.
But at its root, being Jesus isn’t about niceness, its about the proclaiming and the feeding and the healing. It’s the work of helping fix a broken world and deal with the messes other people leave in the lives of the needy.
This is why it irks me so when we feel we can’t talk about politics because the word doesn’t actually mean partisanship. It isn’t a dirty word. Politics is how we can set about proclaiming and feeding and healing.
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins is a perfect model for this in the same way the feeding of the multitudes is the perfect story.
She was devoted. Faithful. Committed to her church. She felt that unbinding responsibility to be there for this weak institution. And she let the gospel effect her, become her.
Her work in government has literally saved the lives of millions. She helped the elderly die with dignity. And helped the injured gain a reliable income. She made the fortunes of everybody more important than the wealth of somebody. And helped ensure that work was had for those who needed it.
And during a time as trying as our own, she gave time to serve, feeding the needy by day and by night.
Perhaps our simplistic response to politics sheds a brighter light on our fears than our virtues. For it is in the great synergy between her life of public service and private service; religious attendance and government administration that the true grace of being Jesus shines.
For she not only made sure every person in that crowd got fed, she had the faith to know that even in the midst of where they were standing, a desolate land, they weren’t without food or faith.
And neither are we.