The Legend of Social Justice Jesus

The Latest Revision of the Biblical Messiah Examined

I want to tell you a story of an ancient sage who changed the world.

This wise man fought for justice, championing the cause of the poor and the oppressed. He rejected organized religion, showing tolerance—not judgment—for the outcast and the socially marginalized. He promoted universal love and the brotherhood of man. His unflinching commitment to speak truth to power cost him his life, but his legacy lives on. He is a model for us today of love, acceptance, and inclusion. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.

That is the story, in sum. It’s a noble tale, to be sure. But it’s a falsehood, a fiction, an urban legend. Though the story is parroted like a mantra by multitudes—even echoed reflexively by otherwise sound spiritual leaders who ought to know better—no such Jesus ever existed. Rather, taken as a whole, this version of Jesus is just another example of another Jesus bringing another gospel, like the ones the Apostle Paul anathematized to the Galatians.

This is not the first legend about Jesus, of course. Paul chastised the Corinthians for their own cavalier embrace of teachers fabricating a false Christ generated by a false spirit bringing a false gospel. The trend would continue in the future, Paul warned, with the Church turning its ticklish ears from truth to myths—legends—choosing man-made fictions over doctrinal facts. Jesus himself warned of future interlopers, imposters masquerading as messiahs who would mislead many.

The Jesus on Record

Times have changed, but the trend has not. New “Jesus legends” abound: the legend of Jesus, the (mere) itinerant moral teacher; the legend of Jesus, the prophet of Allah; the legend of the socialist Jesus; the legend of the Gnostic Jesus of the Gospel of Thomas; the legend of Jesus, the universal Christ; the LDS legend of Jesus, the spirit brother of Lucifer; the New Age legend of Jesus, the Hindu guru. Et cetera, et cetera.

The remaking of the Jewish Messiah from Nazareth into a progressive advocate of social justice is just the latest example of the tendency people have to fashion Christ in their own social/spiritual/political image. Here the tail wags the dog, though. The point is not for any of us to get Jesus on our side, but for us to get on Jesus’ side—hands to the plow, not looking back, fit for the kingdom.

What precisely is “Jesus’ side,” though? Given the mishmash of myths, how do we separate wheat from chaff, fact from fiction, legend from history? There is a reliable, uncomplicated method I employ to get an accurate, balanced, big-picture take on any topic in any section of Scripture, and it’s perfectly suited for this task.

I simply read every word of the biblical material I’m interested in, isolate every passage that’s germane to my topic, then collate the passages in an orderly way to create a thorough, complete, precise portrayal of the topic. It’s a simple—if labor-intensive—technique anyone can use to get the full counsel of any section of Scripture on any topic.

We have one body of detailed information about Jesus: the canonical Gospels. We can accept them as divinely inspired. We can accept them as non-inspired human documents that are, in the main, historically accurate. We can even accept them as error-ridden musings by primitive people about God and Jesus. What we cannot do, though, is reject the Gospel accounts out of hand and then advance our own personal opinion of the Jesus of the Gospels.

  Reject the record, and you forfeit your opinion of the man of the record. It’s that simple. Of course, if you cherry-pick verses to fashion a Jesus in your own image, then I have nothing to offer you. If that’s your project, you are welcome to your fantasy, but do not mistake the views of your make-me-up Christ for the views of Jesus of Nazareth. That legend will reflect your opinions, not his.

Jesus & “Social Justice”

To separate the real Jesus from legendary Christs of any sort, simply read every line of every Gospel carefully, isolating every passage that speaks of Jesus’ purpose.

In the vast majority of cases where Jesus mentions the poor, he does so to make a point about something else. Campaigning for those in poverty was not part of his project. In one case, Jesus actually was dismissive of the poor when compared to something else that was his greater concern: “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have me.”

What was it about Jesus himself that defined his mission in a way that completely eclipsed a legitimate and appropriate concern for the financially destitute?

When preaching on the Sabbath at the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me  . . . to set free those who are oppressed.” But which “oppressed”?

Peter gives us insight into the kind of oppression Jesus had in mind:

You know of Jesus of Nazareth  . . . how he went about doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  . . . Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.

Jesus also said the Spirit has “anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” But what kind of “poor” would receive this gospel message of forgiveness and thus be freed from the oppression of the devil? Jesus told us: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Not the proud self-righteous, but rather those who understood their spiritual poverty.

Taken together, these passages about the oppressed and the poor paint a clear picture of Jesus’ intent. The poor in spirit were to receive the gospel, have their sins forgiven, and be released from the devil’s oppressive power.

Clearly, contending for the financially destitute as such was not his concern, nor was campaigning on behalf of the marginalized, the disenfranchised, or the socially oppressed. Jesus’ concern was bringing forth a kingdom in a way that secured liberty for the captives through forgiveness of sin.

Jesus on Jesus

From the outset, the Gospels paint a clear picture of Christ’s purpose, from which a clear profile emerges. Here are the facts that record reveals: A savior named Jesus, who is Christ the Lord, the Son of the Most High God, will be born in Bethlehem to shepherd Israel. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, he will bring salvation and redemption through the forgiveness of sins, baptizing some with the Holy Spirit and others with the fire of judgment. He will be given the throne of his father David and rule over an everlasting kingdom.

There is nothing in the Gospel descriptions of Jesus that suggests the social-justice Jesus described earlier. As it turns out, there is nothing like that in Jesus’ own claims about himself, either.

Jesus had much to say about his own mission. He said he came to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. He made clear, though, that his kingdom was not of this world, at least initially. It was not a physical kingdom bringing social justice, wealth redistribution, or political and cultural equity. Rather, it was a spiritual kingdom bringing forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.

For Jesus, salvation was not economic prosperity, equal distribution of goods, or sexual liberty without judgment or shame. Instead, salvation came through belief in him, bringing forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus knew that in order to accomplish this mission, he must suffer, die, and be raised again, just as Moses and the prophets had foretold.

Examine the record of Jesus’ own statements about his purpose and mission, and once again, you will find that something is missing—any evidence of any kind that Jesus saw himself as an advocate for social justice. It’s not there. Not a word.

To be clear, there is no question that God in Scripture has a heart for the genuinely oppressed and destitute, and Jesus as God shared that concern, as did his Church. When Jesus encountered deep human need, he responded with compassionate action—characteristically healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, and in two instances, physically feeding multitudes. Even so, Jesus’ principal purpose was redressing spiritual poverty, not rectifying social inequities.

“Who Do You Say That I Am?”

Near the end of Jesus’ life, he asked his disciples the most important question anyone can consider: “Who do you say that I am?” The answer any person gives to that question seals his fate for eternity. We dare not be mistaken on this issue.

Isolate every verse in the Gospels identifying Jesus’ purpose. You will not find a single sentence where Jesus championed the cause of the poor, the outsider, or the disenfranchised as such. There is not even a hint of it—in the sense that it’s commonly understood—in the entire historical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

Did Jesus care about the poor, the downtrodden, and the marginalized? Yes. He also cared about the rich, the powerful, and the socially advantaged. Jesus cared about everyone, and he helped anyone who came to him—poor beggar or prostitute, wealthy tax collector or Pharisee.

The right answer to Jesus’ question is Jesus’ own answer. He is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, the Lamb of God, the living sacrifice who secures forgiveness of sins and eternal life for anyone who bends his knee and beats his breast in penitence before him.

It is the right answer because no other Jesus saves souls—and that, as it turns out, is what he came to do. Any other Jesus—Jesus the mere moral teacher, Jesus the prophet of Allah, the socialist Jesus, the Gnostic Jesus, the universal Christ Jesus, the spirit brother of Lucifer Jesus, the Hindu guru Jesus, even the social justice Jesus—is a falsehood, a fiction, an urban legend. •

—Adapted from Stand to Reason (str.org). Used with permission.