Systemic Equity

Matthew 25:35-36 – “For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.”

This completes the thought of verse 24. The sheep have inherited the kingdom, because when they saw a need in others, they filled that need. I think it is important to remember that Jesus here is still speaking about the kingdom of heaven and the end times with his disciples on the Mount of Olives. He is speaking with people who have left their homes, their lives, their families, everything to follow him. He is speaking mainly to Jewish people living under Roman occupation. They were generally poor, made poor by policy violence.

While Jesus describes taking care of individual needs, these needs were only symptoms of the systematic oppression that kept his disciples poor. These verses describe needs that were created by the inequality of the Roman occupation. The majority of Jews under the occupation were treated terribly. They were taxed by their landlord (if they didn’t own their land), they were taxed by the temple, and they were taxed by the Romans. They got to live on whatever was left. It resembles how the poor and outcast of the US are treated today. It was the unjust allocation of resources in the system that caused them to be poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick. There could be no permanent bettering of their condition without changing the system. They had no way to change that system. Although they tried in 70 CE, they only succeeded in having the temple razed.

That is the difference between the US and first century Rome; we have the means to change our system to take care of everyone’s needs. We lack the political will. Those who are ruling generally don’t want to change the system that gave them power and helps them to maintain it. Yet the possibility is still there. This is all to say that it is the responsibility of every American citizen to vote if they are able. It is our responsibility to know what our government is doing and to speak out when they cause harm. If enough of us were to do it every time, leaders would recognize that in order to stay in power, they need to listen to us.

That is the ideal, but in our world, we also have cheaters; gerrymanderers, election fraudsters, vote suppressors, propaganda machines spewing lies. This is harder to fight against, but if we want a society that strives to address the needs of its citizens – especially those whose needs are different due to disability or age – then we need to fight. All of us in whatever way we can. I get that not everyone has time or resources, but if you are reading this, perhaps you are not in that category. This pandemic is the result of people not understanding what is required of citizens in a democracy. We are seeing the result of people putting an extremely unfit person in power, because his anger and tendency to blame others, especially Black people and immigrants, for the ills of society, spoke for them. We are seeing the results of Republicans refusing to hold an actual impeachment trial for their own purposes. We are seeing fascism descending on our country.

According to Merriam Webster, fascism is “a political philosophy, movement, or regime … that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” We’re not there yet, but the white supremacy and the America First philosophy are evident in this administration in addition to Donald’s obvious and oft-expressed desire to be a dictator. 

However, we still have a democracy, which is something that Jesus as a human being did not have. We have the privilege of voting our consciences. If we don’t like the candidates, we can choose to run for office ourselves. If we don’t like what’s going on in our cities, our counties, our states, or our nation, we have the choice to try to change things. No, scratch that. We have the obligation as citizens who are responsible for the welfare of our fellow citizens and “strangers” in our midst. Because our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people,” we choose how we will take care of each other through voting and participating in democracy. In a democracy, it is not enough to help individuals as need arises; we have an obligation to change the system so that it ensures systemic equity as well as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In my view, these are religious as well as political obligations. 

Why not work for a system in which everyone has enough to live on? In which everyone has access to healthcare? In which everyone has safety? In which the sanctity and the holiness of every human life matters? 

In the meantime, Jesus asks us to help those who need it to the best of our ability. It’s his criteria for entry into the kingdom. 

B