Jesus is a Comrade and You Should Be Too
By: Chynna Baldwin
Tags: Socialism, Christianity, Transformative Justice, Communism, Mutual Aid

Christians are suppose to be followers of Christ, that is literally all. Do as Jesus does, that is it. In order to do this we have to know and have studied Jesus and the way they navigated their life on earth and commit to that process daily. The word “love” appears in the NIV version of the bible 538 times yet for some reason (probably homophobia, transphobia, racism, etc.) people skip over ALL of that and jump straight to the verses about whatever “sin” is most political at a given time. My Jesus personally is black, non binary and a comrade and heres why:

Jesus does not believe in stealing, robbing or cheating (especially the poor, sick or otherwise marginilzed). Stealing, in case you didnt know is the fact that Jeff Bezos makes his lowest paid employee’s salary every 11.5 seconds, NOT someone not paying for groceries they need from Target. One of my favorite stories about Jesus’s time on earth is Matthew 21:12–16 where he entered the temple and found people overpricing goods others needed and TOSSED the tables. Tithing when not run by scamming churches and pastors is an anti-capitlist practice. The concept of tithing (giving the top 10% of your income back to God through your church) was introduced at the beginning of creation as an act of faith and thanksgiving to God. A simple concept, God has allowed you to have the skills and talents you needed to receive the money you have so give a little bit back except God doesn’t need your money; your people do. The Church’s job is to take that money and ensure that the community (not just the church) recieves it as has what they need. If your church isnt doing that, have no fear! I’m sure you have neighbors (literal neighbors not random families in Africa you send money to in efforts to absolve white guilt) that could use it. Jesus consistently gave there time, gifts, food and other resources to the people consistently in public and in secret. (Also bonus if your church isn’t using money correctly its time to find a new one beloved.) Check out 1 Corinthians 16:2 We are called to hold eachother accountable (aka practice transformative justice) but it is not our job to decide punishment. Any kind of earthly punishment is one inherently rooted in classism, sexism, racism and elitism because we are in a fallen world. Punishment often in the modern colonized space looks like incarceration or even death which only perpetuates more trauma and harm. Any human efforts to punish another person has always turned out that way. We are absolutely called to standing up to injustice, calling for reparations and advocating for God’s people but all to often we either reduce our involvelmt to simply saying “I’ll pray about it” OR using excerpts from the bible to try to rationalize why we don’t like someone’s behavior and telling them that they should change. Which is not your job, so you’re doing God’s job… for what reason. Rather than trying to play God (and failing) transformative justice offers grace and the opportunity to change behavior. It allows for us to remember our own humanity and capacity to cause harm while holding space for the person harmed to be in control of there healing process. This is demonstrated beautifully in John 8:2–11.

As a believer in the God of grace and giving and forgiveness and community that is our call. Its absolutely not about politics but rather what does it mean to truly love someone. Love is showing up for people sacrificially, love is biting your tongue, love is choosing to walk through life with others in hopes that your actions bring folxs closer to the One and if not, thats okay to. It is never that God has not given us all that we need but that people of privilige exploit and steal and cheat there way through life in the name of “the American Dream.” Jesus’ only interest is making sure people have all that they need mentally, spiritually, financially, emotionally and are able to become all that God has in store for them. That should be our only concern as well.