Jim Wallis' "On God's Side"

I've been reading On God's Side by Jim Wallis. The book could well serve as a moral compass for politicians of all stripes. The title, of course, refers to Abraham Lincoln's famous quote: "...my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side."

Jim Wallis has long been one of my favorite writers. He is an evangelical preacher, social activist, public theologian, the founder and president of Sojourners ("Faith in Action for Social Justice") and the editor of Sojourners magazine. On God's Side continues his fine tradition of badgering political and religious establishments. In the first part of the book, he discusses inspiring the common good; in the second part, practices (i.e., actions and behaviors) for the common good.

C.S. Lewis' character of Aslan the lion, the creator and leader of Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia), is given as an exemplar of a leader working for the common good. Aslan makes "every decision and action in the best interest of the people and the land...always paying special attention to the weakest and most vulnerable." The concept of the common good, writes Wallis, is "something that has been lost in an age of selfishness."

Wallis takes both Republicans and Democrats to task for not serving the "common good". At first, this bothered me: what's he talking about? Surely the problem with not serving the common good is on the right end, not the left end, of the political spectrum. After making this general statement, though, Wallis gradually clarifies his position. Not only are Republicans defective in their ability to advance the public good; Democrats do not go far enough!

In the first section of his book, "Inspiring the Common Good", Wallis provides the heart of his biblical and theological argument for a "gospel of the common good." He writes of the Beatitutdes ("Blessed are the poor in spirit...those who mourn...the meek...those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (justice)...the merciful...the pure in heart (have integrity)...the peacemakers...those persecuted for righteousness' sake") and the Sermon on the Mount as the place to begin to understand what is meant by Jesus' preaching of the Kingdom of God.

After briefly relating his college and activist experiences in the late 60's and early 70's, Wallis dicusses the "Judgment of Nations" in Matthew 25, probably one of the most challenging texts of the New Testament. It's one of the few places where Jesus makes a point of saying who better be watching their backs at the Last Judgment. "Jesus, unlike our religious institutions, continually speaks out against judgmentalism. But the only time Jesus is judgmental himself is on the subject of the poor." The condemned, the goats, are shocked by what Jesus will say to them at the Last Judgment. "When did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or without clothes, or a stranger, or sick, or in prison?" He will answer them, "Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me." [Click here for a link to Matthew 25.  The text of the "judgment of nations" is in verses 31 to 46.]

Wallis makes two particular points in his discussion of Matthew 25. The first is that "nations", as well as individuals, are being judged. This is about collective as well as individual decisions about who or what is most important. The second is that "Christ's judgment here is not about having the wrong doctrine or theology; it's not about sexual misdeeds, or any other personal sin or failure. The everlasting judgment here is based on how we have treated the poorest and most vulnerable in our midst and in the world...[The] good or ill we have done to them [is]...the moral equivalent of how we have treated him."

The interests and well-being of the poor are not represented well in American politics. Today it is the rare politician who goes out of his or her way to advocate programs for the poor or working class. Poverty doesn't play well in American politics and "pollsters tell both parties that talking about 'poor people' and 'poverty' will not be popular." There are even those in our nation who stigmatize the poor and blame the victims of social injustice, rather than the system that has made it so. For examples from today's headlines, one needs only look at recent attempts to slash the food stamp program. On an upbeat note, Wallis relates the mostly-untold story of how "faith community leaders protected low-income entitlements in the sequestered automatic cuts agreed to in the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal." Two years later, it looks like it's time to gear up again.

When discussing the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan, Wallis writes: "The basic ethic from the Good Samaritan parable - that there are no boundaries for our definition of "neighbor" - needs to be the moral guide and compass for us now in an increasingly globalized world." He further develops the theme with a discussion of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King's "beloved community," the spiritual and philosophical vision that inspired and drove his efforts for civil rights. The beloved community is one which "welcomes all tribes." Quoting Dr. King: "All I'm saying is simply this; that all life is interrelated, that somehow we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

On God's Side forces us to reexamine many other issues in light of Matthew 25 and the parable of the Good Samaritan - including immigration reform, the global nature of "our neighbor" (for example, how our clothes and mobile phones are made), the dangers inherent in American exceptionalism, and the war on terror. On the war on terror, Wallis calls for the application of the principles of conflict resolution. He writes of "forging alternative and more creative responses to issues of injustice and violence and rejecting the cycle of terrorism and war that marks Washington's failed strategy and failed moral logic." He excoriates what he calls the theology of war "coming from some political leaders...and even from some...religious communities...Effective campaigns of fear too easily convince anxious people and could lead our nation to decades of virtually endless wars."

Will Jim Wallis' theological and biblical argument for the common good and Martin Luther King's wish for the building of a "beloved community" resonate with today's political leaders and citizens? Or have we gone too far down the road to divisiveness and fear of the "Other"? Will we need to wait for the next generation of political leaders to bring about a truly just, equal and democratic society? The second section of Jim Wallis' On God's Side, "Practices for the Common Good" attempts to provide an answer. I'll take this up in a future post.