Jesus was a Community Organizer
Quite a ruckus has been raised over Alaskan governor Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican national convention. In particular, the remarks she made disparaging Barack Obama's service as a community organizer in the poor neighborhoods of Chicago, seem to have hit a nerve with grassroots folks on both sides of the aisle.
The response in the blogosphere was quick and to the point, with some groups calling for an apology from the governor. I read those with avid interest, but the posting that really got my attention was a simple slogan that read: WE SUPPORT OBAMA & BIDEN: Pontius Pilate was a Governor. Jesus was a Community Organizer. Speaking as a Democrat and former Seminary student, that one, short statement packs in a lot of history about what happens between kings and commoners and what small groups seeking change are up against. The following is a go at unpacking that statement.
Major social change very rarely comes from the people in power. It finds its voice in the hearts and will of the disaffected and the disenfranchised – those women and men who finally say "enough," and then begin to organize for change.
Social change came from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony who organized a women's movement. It came from Gandhi who organized a non-violent revolution of Indian independence. It came from Labor Unions who gave us the 40 hour work week and child labor laws and worker protection. It found a champion and a voice in Martin Luther King Jr. who issued the clarion call of the civil rights movement. All of these people and many more organized their communities into powerful coalitions for change.
One man in the group stated above, Martin Luther King Jr., took his cue from the ancient Hebrew prophets and from Jesus, who walked in the path of the prophets as well. Let me tell you a little bit about these ancient leaders.
The Hebrew prophets were the political analysts of their day and readily saw how power corrupted kings. They saw how easily a king and the ruling court surrounding him succumbed to greed and easy living at the expense of the poor.
These kings and their court were clever. They, in effect, told the people that their poverty was the will of God. Over time the impoverished masses began to believe that indeed their poverty had been ordained by God.
But the prophets knew better. They saw through the people in power. They began to speak, in the name of God, for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the prisoner, and those hard-scrabble farmers whose land was being taken from them and turned into vast estates owned by the few. With their keen insight they raised their voices in protest and sought to change the minds of kings. Sometimes a king would listen, but most times they did not. Still the prophets continued to speak.
In what we now call the first century a Jew named Jesus was born who would, as an adult, work to change his world village by small village. At the time of his birth, the Roman Empire ruled most of the world. They brought peace by the sword and enslaved, tortured or crucified anyone who got in their way. They put in place a puppet king called Herod the Great who would later pass down his reign to his son. They also placed in Jerusalem, Roman Governor Pilate.
Jesus grew up in abject poverty and as an adult it seemed that Jesus owned no property, not a single house nor vineyard. He had no place to rest his head and therefore, like the great prophets before him, he could see what was happening in the dark and dismal back alleyways of Jerusalem and in the now fragmented villages all around him.
He saw that his people's God-given way of life was slowly being stripped away by King Herod's son Antipas and the Roman Governor Pilate. As well, he knew that those who held religious power were aligned with the government of the day. He knew that it was time for change.
In the spirit of the greatest of the Jewish prophets Jesus began to speak to those in charge of the empire and the lackeys who did their bidding. He called the religious leaders that colluded with empire "hypocrites" and demanded authentic aid for the people. He told them that the Kingdom of God was meant as good news for the poor and all those considered outcasts. Then he warned the people about these leaders. He told them to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.
But he did more than just talk. He began to work with the poor, the sick, the prisoners, the day laborers, the farmers, the homeless city dwellers, the outcasts and the abandoned ones. He went village by village encouraging the people, by word and deed, to band together again - just as their foremothers and fathers had done so long ago against another evil king called Pharaoh. He said that the Kingdom of God was among them when they took care of each other and he became their voice against an empire.
Jesus sought to show them that though the government thought of them as worthless, cursed and therefore deserving of whatever poverty came upon them, God had other plans. He preached about a different kind of kingdom – one that called the poor "blessed" and the hungry "fortunate!" He told them to remain faithful to each other and to God. He said that they-- and not the Kings, the Roman Governor or the religious elite-- were children of God and worthy of love.
He sparked the hope of liberation in their hearts. This hope was fanned by his words. It was given life by his deeds. And it was made strong by his love.
Jesus was an extraordinary community organizer who told his followers to "Go and do likewise." And today others, both secular and religious, have taken his message of hope to heart and have worked to organize and bring change to communities across the country and around the world. The ONE Campaign is seeking to make poverty history. Divided We Fail.org seeks bipartisan partnership on health care and financial security for all. Green Groups, the WE Campaign and Evangelicals are working to safeguard the environment. Still others have banded together to build houses for the homeless; to provide better working conditions for the immigrant strangers in our midst and to bring about justice for all. People are working together to bring about change.
At heart, Barack Obama is a community organizer working for the people. He's not doing this for himself. He wants us to remember that government is best when it is of the people, for the people, by the people. In fact he says, along with many voices today, that "we are the ones we have been waiting for." He understands what all community organizers know – that it's a grassroots effort -- that change usually always finds its voice in the hearts and will of the disaffected and the disenfranchised – those women and men who finally say "enough," and then begin to work for change.
Once people begin to band together they become empowered. They begin to believe that, "Yes, we can stand up to the people in power. Yes, we can recognize wolves in sheep's clothing and yes, we can stop the people in power from pulling the wool over our eyes. Yes, we can bring about change! Yes, We Can! Yes, We the People, Can!"