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Writer's picture: David BeckmannDavid Beckmann
Eastman Johnson. The Lord is My Shepherd. 1863, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Eastman Johnson. The Lord is My Shepherd. 1863, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

This is a season of waiting - in our country, waiting to see what President-Elect Trump will do; on the church calendar, waiting for the coming of Christ. I’ve been studying the biblical books of Luke and Acts, both written by the same author.  


Jesus’ main message was that the kingdom of God is coming into the world, and he was clear that God’s purposes include liberation for poor and needy people.  Luke stresses the theme of poverty in Jesus’ teaching.


Jesus uses a messianic passage from the prophet Isaiah to announce his mission:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor”  (Luke 4:18).


Jesus healed people with terrible diseases, freed people who were out of their minds (possessed by demons), and fed hungry people.  His miracles are signs of the coming kingdom.


Luke’s wording of the Beatitudes is clear that the kingdom of God will include radical political and social change:     

“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. . .

 But woe to you that are rich” (6:20, 24).


Jesus instructed devout, well-off people to give their money to the poor. That was almost always  a conversation stopper. But Zacheus, a wealthy tax collector, was an exception. Tax collectors were seen to be crooks, but Jesus befriends Zacheus, and Zacheus responds by giving away half of his wealth and making reparation payments to people he had cheated.

 

Jesus was executed because he posed a threat to religious and political authorities. The Roman Empire extracted wealth from conquered territories, relying on local authorities to collect taxes. The collaborating authorities in Jerusalem were the High Priest and Sanhedran, supported by tax collectors and soldiers. They all enriched themselves in the process of collecting taxes.  Jesus repeatedly spoke out against the religious establishment, partly for taking money from widows and other needy people. 


Three of the four gospels conclude with the resurrection of Jesus, but the gospel of Luke leads into the Acts of the Apostles. Acts recounts how the post-resurrection message of God’s forgiving love and the presence of the Holy Spirit spread from Jerusalem throughout the known world, and even to Rome itself.


Help for poor people and other people in trouble spreads with the Christian gospel - the early Christian community sharing their goods in common, the appointment of deacons to care for people in need, Christian individuals who are cited in Acts as models of charity.  When the church in Jerusalem was under persecution and in great need, the growing global community of Jesus followers took up a collection to help them. 


Justice for people in poverty is not the main message of Luke and Acts.  But from beginning to end, it’s clear poor and needy people are close to the heart of God and that their liberation is part of God’s purpose for humanity.


Writer's picture: David BeckmannDavid Beckmann

President-Elect Trump has made some frightening Cabinet choices. He and his team, including Elon Musk, are saying frightening things about what they want to do. Our country and the world are still confronted by interlocking crises - extreme weather events, massive hunger and poverty, aggressive authoritarian powers, and many violent conflicts. I wish our incoming government well, but it seems unlikely that they will make things better.


It’s a good time to read the Bible, and I’m now making my way through the gospel of Luke. The first chapters are about Jesus’ birth, John the Baptist, and the early days of Jesus’ public life.  What most strikes me as I read them now is how much they refer to the Roman Empire and to the kings and priests who served as its local agents. 


“In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Lk. 2:1). Rome imposed oppressive taxes on the people it had conquered, and this empire-wide enrollment was designed to make sure everybody paid. For lots of families, that meant going without their daily bread. Many peasants were driven into impossible debt.


Luke’s account of John the Baptist starts with a detailed list of the governmental leaders of the day: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrach of the region of Ituraea and Trachnonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the God came to John the son of Zachariah in the wilderness.”


This verse makes me smile - a wilderness preacher among all these powerful men. Yet the word of God came to John the Baptist.


After Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness he announces that God’s kingdom is at hand, “God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”


The promised kingdom of God will supplant the Roman empire, but the kingdom is also present right now. Sick people are healed. Blind people are given sight. Fisher folk are called to become missionaries. 


We’re like those fisher folk. We have relatively little power, but we carry the word of God and hope for a better world.  


I’m dealing with the stresses of our time by focusing on God’s forgiving love for humanity and on things I can do to make things better.



Writer's picture: David BeckmannDavid Beckmann
Rev. Heather Taylor
Dr. Christine Sequenzia

Rev. Heather Taylor and Dr. Christine Sequenzia from Bread for the World attended the social summit in Brazil just before the G20 heads of state met this week. I was especially pleased by four outcomes from the G20 Summit.


First, the new Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty launched.  Eighty-one nations joined  before the launch, and more are in the process of joining. The website of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty is now up.



My long-time colleague, Asma Lateef (now responsible for policy and advocacy at the SDG2 Advocacy Hub), reported, “I think the proof of the pudding will be once the secretariat is up and running. But it was great to see Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa talk about their commitments to the Alliance and one or more of the policy strategies the Alliance is promoting.”


In a panel discussion organized by Katherine Marshall of the Berkley Center at Georgetown University, my comments stressed the importance of the Alliance’s “board of champions.” 


Second, there was progress in Brazil on the replenishment of IDA, the World Bank’s fund for low-income countries. President Biden attended the Summit, and the United States increased its IDA commitment by 14%. The Bank is aiming for commitments of more than $100 billion over three years. We’ll see if the Trump administration lives up to this commitment. Financing is critical to the renewal of global progress against hunger and poverty. The alternative would include increased frustration and violence around the world.


Third, the closing declaration from the Summit affirmed the World Bank’s fuller use of its balance sheet to expand its lending. Ajay Banga, the president of the World Bank, spoke at the Borlaug Forum in Iowa this fall, and explained their ambitious plans. These include a commitment to bring electricity to half of the 600 million people in Africa who don’t have access to electricity now. 


Fourth, the G20 nations agreed to develop a Global Mobilization Against Climate Change, an initiative that will complement the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty.  President Lula of Brazil chaired the G20 Summit and will chair next year’s big environmental conference. He forcefully encouraged urgent action by all the G20 nations to make development sustainable and meet the internationally agreed climate goals.


During President Trump’s first term he withdrew the United States from the global climate-change agreement. If he does that again, the other nations of the world may move forward without U.S. leadership.


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