Previous Post – How Our Church Was Born Out Of Mission
Due to the nature of our lives and the ministry we do and the inner city neighbourhood that we call home, it is only natural that a great deal of our time and energy is directed towards those aspects of God’s mission that confront and transform issue of injustice- poverty/affluence, racism, sexism, exploitation, etc. While not a replacement of the work to live and proclaim the Gospel, being a people who “do justice” is central to our identity and call as the Body of Christ. Some times this injustice is systemic in the wider culture, sometimes it is found in the spheres of Christian culture. It is my firm commitment to address these issues, even with prophetic rebuke, that I want to premise the following thoughts on.
Yesterday I posted a comment on my Twitter that didn’t get much of a response (probably because it lacked qualification. It said “As Christians, if our fight against injustice is designed to acquire power, we will often find success to be self-defeating”. What inspired this comment was a growing tension I am feeling in respect to my engagement of justice activism from a Christian context. While I again unwaveringly affirm God’s command for us to confront injustice, it is becoming increasingly common for people to form their identity on their victimhood. As a result, we can use this identity to pursue change and acquire power through the use of guilt and shame. I once heard this approach called “the ultimate form of moral blackmail”.
As Christians, we are called to active engage and transform the world, including facing and correcting injustice. It is the means, however, that makes the way of Christ so radical. Phillipians 2 clearly calls us to follow the example of Christ, who put aside everything to taking a position of submission and even subjugation in obedience to God- a choice that led to suffering and death. The great paradox of faith was that by becoming nothing and embracing suffering and death, Christ transformed them and the world around us. In the same way, the model for our engagement of injustice is to be identification (even incarnational embrace) of “the least of these”.
I acknowledge that as a white male in North America I represent the ultimate in privilege. Please know that I am not unaware or insensitive to the historic and very much present suffering and injustices faced by others throughout the world. Every day I clumsily seek to meet the great expectation that come with that great privilege, longing to follow the example of Christ in humility and submission. A great deal of my time and energy in life and ministry are invested in open the eyes and the hearts of Christians to the great suffering we have (and continue) to cause through unjust systems, be they ecclesial, political, economic, racial, etc.
However, when Christians who are victims of injustice use their suffering as bargaining chip in effecting change, I deeply fear that they often do more harm than good, both to themselves and to the privileged and the victimizers. The position of powerlessness and suffering is the place where we best identify with the person and work of Jesus Christ. While I am not suggesting that victims remain content in their suffering because “that’s what Jesus would do”, identification with Christ in that place brings a power and authority that is found truly at the Cross. To fight for power can often distance the victim from the sacred place they hold in Christ’s Body. When we leverage our powerlessness in order to acquire power, we risk becoming the very thing that we so fervently seek to change.
The point I am trying to make is this: It was from His position of the suffering, powerless victim that Christ was able to defeat the enemy. When He was weak, then He was strong. Jesus was a victim who saved and forgave. It is to this pattern that I long to see the church move, especially in respect to the many injustices we are addressing in the world. The only victimhood from which we should draw identity is that of Jesus, who calls us to share in His suffering and death so that we might be resurrected together as One in His Body, bound and empowered by His Holy Spirit. When our victim identity is rooted primarily in socio-ecominc, gender, race, etc. we end up tangled in the power struggles that are the powers that be. I am not advocating a denial or ignorance of these specific expressions of injustice, but rather call for them to be submitted under the Cross of Jesus Christ through which we become His Church.
If we are to be one Body, then we must see that every injustice harms us all. Yes, many of us have benefited (and continue to benefit) from injustice against others, and while those victims ultimately felt the suffering far more acutely, we must acknowledge that the wound was ultimately to us all, because the wound was first and foremost against Christ. When we are the victim of prejudice, exploitation, racism or hate, the suffering, the wound are not first ours- the first and true victim, is ALWAYS Jesus Christ. This paradigm will transform the way in which we engage injustice and relate to each of as sisters and brothers in God.
When I consider the examples of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Oscar Romero and others, I see in them a clear embrace of this truth. While they worked for reform that would establish equality in the lives of people from all walks of life, they did so, not as victims demanding compensation, but as the wounded healers who saw that our salvation is caught up together. They actively embraced the Cross and in it found victory.
Let me close with some wise words of Richard Rohr:
“The message of the cross wrongly appear to most people to be passivity, heroic suffering, the cult of martyrdom, doormat theology or refusing to fight, somehow giving up or giving in, but for God. This is very hard to change or renew in people’s minds. Maybe that’s why I I find most people really don’t believe in the message of the cross as anything practical, desirable or even attractive. It’s just something Jesus did once to resolve some heavenly metaphysical transaction that was needed, but it wasn’t really an agenda for us or for now. It’s something Jesus did to prove God’s love for us, and we should therefore admire Jesus. That imagery is powerful and I wouldn’t want to take it away. But it’s not the whole picture. The cross is about how to fight and not become a casualty yourself. The cross is about being the victory instead of just winning the victory over somebody else.” <emphasis mine>
Please let me know what you think. Does this make sense to you? Any push back?
Tags: Missional
hey jamie,
Some very poweful words in your article. It really made me stop and think. And yes, it does make sense. It is so easy to get lost in the injustice of the problems we face. And this is always followed by a forgetfulness of He who suffered the greatest injustice of all and his willingness to ‘take it’. Thanks for your words Jamie, it has given me a lot to think about. love you a lot and hope to see you someday.
ps. are u and kim ever planning a trip out here to quebec? if so, let me know
No one can argue the supremacy of Christ, even in injustice and offense. Your very article speaks against something I loathe in our US churches: the self-help or support group who gather each week to focus on the injustices they’ve endured. We live in a society of victims and in so doing keep one another from reaching the higher standard of glorifying God. We must take care of our brethren and not cause them to stumble in their thinking, always encouraging in them the goodness and glory of Christ. Thank you for your post. I know how much time, effort and prayer your poured into it. May the LORD bless you for boldly exposing truth. @Angelamz40
Hey Megan,
Thanks so much. I think we get so caught up in a culture that teaches us we should get what we want, that we fail to remember that the call to follow Christ, while filled with joy and reward, is a call of self-denial and ultimately the cross. It is hard, but oh the joy of being a genuine community of Christ! I see glimpses of it now and then, which humble and thrill me.
Peace,
Jamie
P.S. Alas, no plans, though I would love to visit, as I have never been to Quebec. Someday, perhaps!
Hi Jamie,
I love it, and have said similar things from time to time. But, like you, I’m a white North American male. I strongly believe that what you are advocating is the way of Jesus, but I’m not sure how I can achieve the right (for lack of a better word) to say that. Does that make sense? What are your thoughts on that? It occurs to me that trying to move into powerlessness myself can help, but even that is a fairly vague thing that seems to take a really long time to move into.
Thanks Angela. I think we have convinced ourselves (or been convinced) of a binary view of victimhood. Either you are a victim or you are a victimizer. In other words, you are right or you are wrong. This is rarely that black and white.
Further, why do we feel that the comfort and care a community can give a victim cannot be accompanied by sensitive, but authentic requirements of discipleship. The cross has lost meaning in the very real, daily impact we are called to find in it.
Thanks for weighing in!
Peace,
Jamie
Hey Jonathan,
You hit on a very tricky issue, one that almost kept me from posting this in the first place. While we need to be very, very humble, gracious and patient, I do believe that as we pursue genuine community (through real conversation and reconciliation) within the church, we will build the kinds of relationships that allow for this kind of honesty. Our pursuit of justice must be a unified one, not parceled into sub-categories that inevitably have us “competing” for attention.
As white males (as with most of the privileged culture), we have MUCH more to do on our own embracing of the cross in respect to these issues. I suspect when people see us doing that, our voices will have great authority on this issue. It will take boldness and courage (and willingness to get berated), but if we focus on the call of Christ, we are on the right path.
Given the price paid by others for my privilege, it is a small price to have to face the anger (both justified and unjustified) as we address this issue. However, when the work for justice begins to attack the value of the privileged, thus failing to see the God in whom image we are all made, we must speak up. For all our sakes. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
Hi Jamie;
Yours is a powerful peace, pun intended, that shares a dramatic message.
It was your title that first caught my eye. I’ve always viewed the empty cross of Christ as THE most powerful symbol in history …the watershed of all creation.
I’m thinking that, like many foundational Biblical issues, the “power” and the “powerlessness” of the cross of Jesus is yet another incredible antimony to add to my growing list.
Thank you, my Brother! You have given me a new perspective …for, of course, the cross is both!
Blessings & shalom on your house!
In Christ,
@EaglesFlightOne in Toronto
Thanks Gary. I think that is one of the lessons I continue to learn- that the paradox of God is that we find life through death on the Cross, healing through brokenness and freedom through submission to Lordship. It is in the powerlessness of the cross that we discover Christ’s true power. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
Hi Johnathon;
Above you conclude your remarks by saying: Powerlessness “…is a fairly vague thing…”.
Unless I’m misunderstanding you, I cannot agree.
Powerlessness, I believe, is a very clear thing. And a call on every Jesus Follower.
For Jesus came to earth to live a sinless life and, then, die and come to live in us so that He can live His life out through us! He cannot do so when we’re always grabbing back control of our lives and climbing down off the altar. I suspect you’re familiar with the Scriptures that command our abject powerlessness at the foot of Jesus’ cross.
John 15:5, Galatians 2:20 and 1 Peter 5:5b-9 are my favourites that I don’t always obey well or as consistently as I’d like.
Blessings!
Gary
Hey Gary,
I can’t speak for Jonathan, but I suspect he was referring more to the the oft times difficult way of walking it out. After all, many could (and have) used the excuse of powerlessness to ignore or minimize the injustice around them and their own culpability in it. It is a dynamic tension that will take great discernment and mutual trust to work out.
Peace,
Jamie
[...] Previous Post – Embracing the Powerlessness of the Cross [...]
Jamie,
I do agree with what you are saying. Actually, I find that a lot of what I’ve done “for Christ” has been out of the victims attitude. The rebellion, if you will. When I get to that point, I have to ask myself if I’m doing it all for me in actuality. I also like how you wrote about it affects our unity, because we can definitely distance ourselves from the body when we think we are victims, perhaps even needing to be served (instead of serving) or have others fight for our justice. Does that make sense? Have I missed the point? Oh well, I enjoyed reading it anyway.
Hey Amy,
No, you didn’t miss the point at all. Great input! We may very well be victims and have every right to much of what we demand, but Christ calls us to be servants, to sacrifice, to give up our rights when we die with Him. Thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
[...] Embracing the Powerlessness of the Cross: This post is one that I was deeply moved to write, but fearful that it would be misunderstood. I am still not confident that I achieved that goal, but it continues to challenge me and our community to live beyond identities of victimization. While we do not deny injustice, rather we place an primacy on the equalizing embrace of the Cross of Christ. [...]