Reader's Response: 'Occupy Wall Street' shares values with Jesus

I can't stand by silently and let Michael R. Shannon's latest twisting of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (October 31 column: Jesus Christ -- a liberal Democrat? ) go unanswered.

Mr. Shannon, like many politically conservative Christians, is uncomfortable with the light the "Occupy Wall Street" movement is shining on the immoral selfishness and greed that Wall Street has come to embody. It is the unrighteous, unchristian, aspects of our society that have caused income inequality to now reach the highest point it has been since 1929 -- just before the Great Depression. Homelessness, food stamps, unemployment, foreclosures and lack of affordable  health care are all approaching record, or near-record, highs -- in a country that is actually rich. The reason, obviously and as has been well-documented, is that virtually all new wealth created by our society goes to the top 10 percent; most to the top 1 percent. Yes, the rich in America have never been richer.

Michael Shannon seems blind to the world around him. Amazingly, even now, he supports further tax cuts for the wealthy (who already have lower tax rates than most middle-class wage earners) and cuts to health care, housing, clothes, food, jobs, and education for the poor.

The thing that really drives Mr. Shannon crazy is that when he reads the Bible he finds God (and Jesus) speaking over and over against economic and social injustice, and particularly the oppression of the poor by the rich. Because those topics don't fit well with his conservative politics, Mr. Shannon ignores them. Instead, he twists the parable of the bags of gold into what he calls "a rousing endorsement of capital gains."

Are you kidding? If the parable of the bags of gold is an endorsement of capital gains, then the parable of the workers in the vineyard (in which some work a short time; some a long time and yet all are paid the same) supports communism.

Now, I do not claim that I know Jesus is a liberal or a Democrat or that he has clearly said anything about "Occupy Wall Street." But, for Mr. Shannon to claim that Jesus would not want to be thrown among "parasites" (Shannon's uncharitable label of the protesters) is beyond the pale. It is starkly reminiscent of the sort of thing the Pharisees of Jesus' day said about people they looked down on.

Anyone who reads the Bible with an open mind and lets Jesus speak for Jesus will have to conclude that Jesus shares many of the values of those in the Occupy movement. In fact, if Mr. Shannon were to continue reading, only a few verses after the parable of the bags of gold, he would read this from Jesus:

"Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me."

What should these words mean to Christians today who are thinking about the world we live in? About wealth inequality, food stamps, unemployment, immigration, environmental (creation) degradation, etc.?

The imporant point is that the passage I cite is not handpicked. It just happens to be in the very same chapter as the one scripture reference Mr. Shannon makes. There are a great many scripture passages I could quote; literally hundreds and hundreds of them -- that are consistent with the message of the Occupy movement. That message is about social and economic justice; about making the world a better place; about caring for God's creation; about lifiting up the poor and oppressed; about reining in the excesses of the rich. Those are all very biblical, very Christian messages.

They remind me of the Beatitudes where Jesus said:

"Blessed are the poor...Woe to the rich" (Luke 6).

But, let's start where Jesus started. When Jesus began his public ministry and introduced himself to the world, this is what he said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Luke 4:18-19

Jesus was quoting from the prophet Isaiah of the Old Testament and saying that he was fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. But, if one looks, he or she will find that God spoke through virtually all of the prophets of the Old Testament about this problem of selfishness and economic inequality. For instance, the prophet Amos said:

"But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:24

The book of Amos is all about a society similar to our own in which the profits produced by the work of the people were going, not back to the people who created them, but rather to the rich landowners. God is calling for economic justice and righteousness.

Jesus's Gospel calls people to believe in him and become part of the Kingdom of God.  Importantly, the Kingdom of God is not just a spiritual kingdom we can look forward to arriving at after we die. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus prayed (and asked us to also): "thy Kingdom come...on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus is clear that if we hope to be part of the Kingdom, we must follow him and join in God's Kingdom now -- on this earth. 

We do that by believing in Jesus and everything he stands for; by living Jesus’ values. Those values are all about loving God; loving (and treating) one’s neighbor (and enemy) as ourselves; promoting peace; caring for God's creation; sharing what we have with others; and generally promoting a better, more just, righteous, and unselfish world -- for all of God's children.

If that sounds liberal or like a Democrat or like something an "Occupy Wall Streeter" would say -- then so be it.  It would be nice if, instead of calling the demonstrators "parasites," Mr. Shannon rejoiced that just maybe God is at work; His Kingdom being advanced; in unexpected places. Maybe even through "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators. 

Mo Johnson lives in Montclair and runs the local website www.pwcva.com.