Jesus was NOT a Capitalist

To say, "Jesus was not a Capitalist", tends to raise a few eyebrows.  Especially here in the good old southern Bible-belt of America.  Guess what.  He wasn't a member of the "Religious Right" either!  As a matter of fact, Jesus had very little to say about the politics and economics of his day.  He was not at all interested in discussing people's retirement plans.  He didn't seem very interested in what political system was in control or who was pushing the buttons of executive, legislative, or judicial leadership.  I doubt he cared anything at all about liberal versus conservative philosophies in a fiscal or a social sense.

Jesus was on a mission.  He came to earth to save us from certain death apart from God.  The rest just didn't seem to matter all that much to him.

Here are some things that Jesus and the early church did care about:

1) Making sure the poor and the widows were cared for.  If the church were doing its job today, we wouldn't even need to worry about whether or not the government was practicing social redistribution through taxation.  It wouldn't be needed.  The church would be meeting the needs of people who genuinely needed help and love.

2) The Christian inherits everything in the end.  Jesus told the rich young man to go and sell everything.  Not exactly a financial planner's best advice for retirement, but Jesus didn't care about retirement.  He cared about helping people see that eternity was a much more secure place to store up treasure.  Work until the day you die and do it for God's glory.  You can rest for all eternity after that!

3) Love people into a relationship with God instead of trying to legislate morality through politics.  Boycotts, lobbists, and protests by the "religious right" have always bothered me.  Didn't Jesus have some strong words for the Pharisees about forcing rules and religious morality on people without acutally loving them and helping them come to know a merciful and loving God.  Shouldn't we guide people toward God with love and service, THEN allow the Holy Spirit and scripture to convict and guide them into the life God wants them to live?  Isn't that the example Jesus sets for us in the New Testament?

4) Community was modeled over individualism by the early church.  As Americans, we are taught that God gave us freedom in this country so we could pursue the "American Dream".  Whatever we want, we can achieve.  Capitalism and freedom are assumed to be granted and blessed by God.  However, I see the early church focused on living together, sharing everything in common, and looking out for each other's needs.  Not exactly the creed of the great capitalist, Alex P. Keaton!  I'm not saying that Jesus is anti-capitalist.  I'm just saying that he didn't CARE about our economic system.  He just wanted to make sure we loved each other and took care of each other's needs.  It isn't a political or economic system.  It is just the way Jesus and the early church modeled life for us!

Being a disciple of Jesus is hard.  It goes against our natural instincts of self-preservation and selfishness.  It goes against much of what we are taught as red-blooded Americans.  The more I study who Jesus was and what it means to be a disciple of his, the more I realize that I need to start living in a very counter-cultural way - ON PURPOSE!  The deeper I get in my relationship with God, the LESS I find myself caring about "right" or "left", Democrat or Republican, Conservative or Liberal, Capitalist or Socialist.  The world can have its lables and philosophies.  As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord.  His mission was to save as many lost people as he could by loving them and helping them.  His mission was to make disciples.  I want that to be my mission too!