Luke’s Gospel challenges Trump’s reign with compassion for the poor
Commentary by Walter Hesford | FāVS News
In my church as in many others that follow the common lectionary of Scripture readings, this year we will be hearing and discussing the Gospel of Luke.
This is fortunate since this Gospel provides an excellent way for contextualizing and critiquing the reign of Trump.
The passage from Luke read at Christmas sets the birth of Jesus within the context of the reign of Caesar Augustus: “And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1 (KJV); the NRSV has “registered” instead of taxed).
Caesar seemingly rules the world. He has the wealth, the power, the army legions to control what happens even in remote portions of his empire such as Palestine.
It was Caesar’s gospel that was proclaimed throughout his empire: Good news! Caesar and his representatives are among you, bringing you peace (if you submit to their rule). Luke, following a tradition set by the Gospel of Mark, proclaims instead that the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, is the good news the world awaits and needs. This is what David L. Tiede writes in “Luke: Learner Session Guide.”
During the reign of Trump, Christians should keep in mind this proclamation. We should bow to no authoritarian leader or government. We should question any version of Christian nationalism that calls us to worship our country, and we should not support any imperialistic plots of our country.
According to Luke, the good news of Jesus is especially for the poor. Even before his birth, his mother Mary has proclaimed what the reign of her son will accomplish: “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52-53).
Unlike emperors … not to mention Trump … Jesus is not born into wealth, but to a poor family, in a lowly manger. This may help explain his compassion for those on the margins of society, a compassion his followers are asked to share.
At the outset of his ministry, he reads in his hometown synagogue passages from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has set me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…” (Luke 4:18).
Jesus is the bringer and fulfiller of this good news, which he reiterates in the first beatitude in Luke’s Gospel: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20). The rich are often unable to achieve this kingdom since they are kept by their wealth from considering the needs, the humanity, of the poor among them.
This is vividly illustrated in Jesus’ parable of a rich man (commonly called Dives) and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. In the January/February issue of Sojourners, Ched Myers offers brilliant commentary on this parable, which is an excerpt from his book “Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics.”
As the title of his book indicates, Myers sees in Luke’s Gospel words that critique and heal “affluenza,” an addiction to wealth that afflicts us as it did those who lived in the days of Jesus.
In Jesus’s parable, the rich man, feasting sumptuously every day, does not care about a man at his gate named Lazarus “who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:21). The poor man dies and goes the bosom of Abraham, while after death the rich man goes to Hades where he calls out to Father Abraham to send Lazarus down to give him something to cool to drink. Abraham says this can’t happen because “between you and us a great chasm has been fixed” across which no one can pass (Luke 16:26).
Myers interprets “this great chasm” as an afterlife representation of the great wealth gap that existed and exists between the rich and poor. Indeed, this gap is likely to keep getting bigger under the reign of Trump and his oligarchy of billionaires as they plan tax cuts to increase their wealth.
Myers offers hope. The great social and economic chasm could be lessened through “the biblical vision of Sabbath economics,” which includes debt forgiveness and a sharing of resources among other compassionate and wise practices, such as loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
Is this likely to happen under the reign of Trump? No, but at least Luke’s Gospel and Myers’ commentary on it offer a warning and a guide to an alternative way of being in God’s world.
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
In the religion of my birth (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aka LDS aka Mormon) there is doctrine called the “Law of Consecration” that requires members to give all to the church and the church will distribute back to members their needs. It is Marxism and obviously people don’t follow the doctrine.
The LDS church is now extremely wealthy and the largest land owner in 2 US states (Florida and Nebraska). Sadly a member recently lost a lawsuit for return of his tithes he thought was going to charitable work and not real estate investments. Sheesh. It’s hard to get justice from a behemoth with funds to out-litigate members.
Thanks for writing and addressing the moral failings of our society’s capitalistic excess, especially as it contributes to something as unethical as poverty. Unchecked capitalism eats its young, old, and everybody in between. Morbid wealth is immoral for a follower of Jesus as far as I can tell by the same doctrine you cite (and more).
I would love to see a realignment of Christian priorities to that Jesus character’s four requirements: feed the hungry (address poverty), heal the sick (ensure access to healthcare), welcome strangers (support diversity), and be kind to prisoners (I favor education and diversion programs). Unfortunately, the focus of Christianity seems to be anti-LGBT+ and anti-abortion — two things Jesus did not speak of at all. Sigh.
Even though I no longer subscribe to “spiritual” questions, I love this quote from Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialist, Nikolai Berdyaev, “Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.”