The Marxist Jesus! - Father Dave's Blog

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied…
But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry” (Luke 6:20-21, 24-25)

If it weren’t for the reference to the ‘Kingdom of God’, you might assume that these lines had been taken from Marx’s “Communist Manifesto”. The language of revolution is unmistakeable, even if it is God’s revolution.

Most of us are far more familiar with the version of these blessings found in Matthew’s Gospel. They begin with “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), and we are never quite sure who the ‘poor in spirit’ are but they sound like an inoffensive group. In Luke’s version though, the poverty is clearly economic. Lest we be tempted to spiritualise the concept, Jesus gives us both sides of the equation, “Blessed are you who are poor … but woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”

This affirmation of the poor, and the hungry and despised is prophetic. Jesus isn’t romanticising poverty and suggesting that poor people are actually better off in some spiritual sense. No. Jesus is saying that the world is soon going to be turned upside-down, and that the people on the bottom are going to be brought to the top, and vice-versa, which is also what Marx predicted.

I’m not suggesting that Jesus was a Marxist. Rather, the opposite. I’d suggest that Marx’s vision of a future egalitarian society was almost certainly taken from Jesus, or rather from the same Hebraic vision that Jesus was working with.

We’ve already heard Jesus quoting Isaiah 61, saying that He had been “anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor”, and this itself was an echo of Mary’s prophecy.

“He has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53)

Mary’s words, in turn, echoed the prayer of her foremother, Hannah:

The Lord sends poverty and wealth.
He humbles, and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honour. (1 Samuel 2:7-8)

This vision of social upheaval is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, and Luke’s Gospel leaves us no doubt that the coming of God’s Kingdom is literally a revolution. Everything will be turned upside-down. Those at the top are going to be brought down, and the people at the bottom will be lifted up. The powerful are going to have their power taken from them and the powerless put in charge. The hungry are fed while the over-fed are put on a diet.

Yes, Jesus’ vision of the coming Kingdom of God has a lot in common with the vision of The Communist Manifesto. Even so, Jesus is not a Marxist, and Marx was not a follower of Jesus. They both foresaw a coming age of justice and peace, but they had very different ideas as to how we get there.

One final thing that we don’t want to miss in these blessing is the way they are introduced: “Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor …” (Luke 6:20)

First and foremost, it is the disciples here who are poor, just as it is Jesus’ disciples who are hungry, marginalised, reviled, and defamed “on account of the Son of Man” (Luke 6:22). These words come not long after the twelve walked away from their livelihoods to go on an adventure with Jesus. Thew knew from the outset, as we are expected to know, that taking the road-less-travelled with Jesus is a costly choice.

Perhaps there are exceptions, but I think poverty pretty much comes with the territory when you follow Jesus. We do not seek earthly rewards and so we cannot be bribed. We refuse to buy in to the profiteering spirit of our age. Instead, we share everything we have because we can’t abide seeing our sisters and brothers in need. We hold nothing back. We open our homes and our hearts to those around us, and we are blessed! Indeed, the Kingdom of God is ours! 😊

Our Sunday Eucharist

We celebrated another great Sunday Eucharist last weekend, and a big thank you to Rob Gilland and Father Mark for joining me on the panel.

I fear some people may think our Bible Banter too political. Even so, as the Apostle says, we can’t love God whom we can’t see, if we can’t love our neighbour whom we can see (1 John 4:20), and thanks to the miracle of the Internet, we can’t avoid seeing the horror that is going on around us. Accordingly, we have to speak out.
You’ll find a couple of examples in the Shorts below. You’ll find the archived recording of the entirety of last week’s service on my YouTube channel, and you can check out the Shorts library on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page.

This Sunday I’m hoping to have four of us on the panel! I was looking forward to having Andrew Logan and Karyn with me, but Karyn had some family matters to attend to so we managed to persuade Diane to cover for her. It seems now that Karyn may be available and, if that’s the case, I’d love to have both ladies with us!

Expect some action-packed Bible-Banter this Sunday from noon @ TheSundayEucharist.com (and on Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia and Streamyard).

I am looking forward to sharing this Eucharist with you very much. 😊

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What’s On?

Sunday, February 16^th – Our Eucharist from noon @ thesundayeucharist.com (and on Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard).
Monday, February 17^th – Father Dave’s Birthday Bash @The Public House in Petersham from 6pm

I’m afraid my calendar for this coming week is looking rather empty as Joy is taking me away for a couple of days. It’s my birthday present. My apologies to our boxing team, but we all need a break between rounds. I trust I’ll come back fitter and stronger. 😊🥊

In the meantime, please do join me for my Birthday Bash if you’re in the area. It’s nothing special, in the sense that it’s a low-cost public venue, and there is no agenda for the evening. Even so, it was a very special time for me last year, and its you guys that make it special. So please pop by if you can, even if only for a short time, and please remember my two requests:

Let me know if you’re coming by registering at the Facebook Event Page.
If you feel compelled to get me a gift, make a one-off donation to Fighting Fathers Ministries or become one of my patrons, and help keep us going.
- One-off donations: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/fatherdave
- Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/c/fatherdave

It sometimes feels frivolous to celebrate like this when so much of the world is burning. Even so, Jesus never said ‘no’ to a party, and the only disciple we know of who ever objected to Jesus’ party attitude was Judas (Mark 14:5)! Following Jesus may take us into poverty and pain, yet the Kingdom of God is ultimately a party. 🥳

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:21)

Your brother in the Good Fight,