Christ And The Social Condition

“When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’

“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” [1]

Few of the miracles Jesus performed had a greater impact on the people of His day than did the feeding of several large groups that came to hear Him. You will have no doubt noted that one such miracle is recorded earlier. The people who witnessed the miracle Jesus performed that day decided that He must be their king. However, their purpose in seeking Him to be the one who should reign over them had nothing to do with honouring Jesus for His power over nature; rather, they were motivated by a twisted desire to be fed!

Much like many of our fellow Canadians now living in our modern welfare state, the people who were living at that time were entirely self-serving in their desires. If Jesus would not listen to what they saw as reasonable pleas, they would seize Him and force Him to become King of Judea. That way, they would always have free food. They would never have to labour again. They could just stay home, eat, and grow fat! What a life! From the outside looking in, we can certainly see the appeal.

Jesus, however, knowing their intention, responded in a most peculiar manner, peculiar to us who are accustomed to think that government can solve most, if not all, social ills. Jesus withdrew to a secret place where they could not find Him. Jesus was having none of this effort to reduce the crowd to drones living off God’s largess.

It is instructive to recall the Commandments given to mankind. You will recall that the Fourth Commandment instructs us, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” And it continues by instructing worshippers, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” [EXODUS 20:8-11].

I understand that the emphasis of this command is on worshipping the LORD. However, we must not ignore the fact that those who worship are to engage in their labour for six out of the seven days of each week. God expects those who worship Him to be productive, to be engaged in work. Nowhere in the Word of God are we given so much as a suggestion that we are to be drones, or that we are to be dependent upon the state for our needs. To be certain, we are to be generous toward the widow and toward the orphan, expressly caring for those living among us who are vulnerable because of circumstances beyond their control; but even these can be engaged in doing something, rather than becoming utterly dependent upon the state.

We read of Tabitha, a woman who had resided in Lydda and who had died. Disciples in that city sent for Peter, and when he came, we read, “All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them” [ACTS 9:39]. This widow was recognised for doing what she could and the way in which she blessed many with her labours.

The Lord GOD stated that people should be prepared to work. People were expected to be productively engaged with their bodies and with their minds. They were to work to provide for themselves and for their families. This is, of course, what the Creator had said when He confronted Adam in his fallen condition, saying,

“Because you have listened to what your wife said,

and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground because of you.

You’ll eat from it through pain-filled labour

for the rest of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you’ll eat the plants from the meadows.

You will eat food by the sweat of your brow

until you’re buried in the ground,

because you were taken from it.

You’re made from dust

and you’ll return to dust.”

[GENESIS 3:17-19 ISV]

God never appointed us to perform mindless labour just so we could say we are busy, but He did appoint us to engage in productive labour. We are to provide for ourselves and for our family, as we are instructed when the Apostle to the Gentiles writes, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” [1 TIMOTHY 5:8].