The Long Long Speech

You may or may not have seen how there was a record broken this past week. In Washington D.C. our government was tossing around a bill that President Trump was trying to pass. The bill was labeled “ The Big Beautiful Bill”. As you can imagine the debate of the bill was the same old political story: the Republics were for it and trying to pass it and the Democrats were against and tried to stop it. This led to legislators making the most of their time in front of the microphone. Yet with all the grandstanding and politicking done, the Democrats knew they did not have the votes to stop the bill from passing. Enter Democratic Minority Leader of the House ,Hakeem Jeffries. Knowing they could not stop the bill, he tried a different approach: wearing out the Republicans. Once he had the floor, he began a speech that he planned on being the longest the House of Representatives had ever seen. He went on to speak for a record eight hours and forty four minutes. While the bill still passed, he’ll probably use the event for getting reelected later on. “Oh look at me and how I stood (see what i did there?) for you the people for almost nine hours”.

As is par for the course in these matters, Hakeem threw every negative, racial, socialistic, demonic, dramatic, metaphoric, political, colorful, economical word salad out there he could to slander the opposing party. He at one point even labeled the vote for the bill a crime! “People will die. I never thought I’d be on the house floor saying that this is a crime scene. And the House Democrats want no part of it.” If the drama was peanut butter, Hakeem laid it on quite thick. But what caught my eye about his long speech (no I did not listen to the whole thing) was his biblical references. He quoted preachers, civil rights leaders, referenced his faith, his church and  cited actual bible verses. And yes, before your mind goes there, he did cite the passage correctly. Yahoo New reported that, “The Brooklyn-bred Democrat turned to his roots growing up in the Black church to call out the hypocrisy of Republicans, who claim to put a high premium on their faith as part of their conservative values. “I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church,” said Jeffries, who quoted Matthew 25:35-40. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. Connecting scripture to the role of government, he continued, “Maybe I needed Medicare or Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act…I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me.” Referencing the Trump administration’s immigration detainments, he added, “We have a right, as members of Congress, to visit people who are detained. It’s not just in law, it’s right here in Matthew. “Our job is to stand up for the poor, the sick and the afflicted, the least, the lost and the left behind, the everyday American,” said Jeffries. “That’s what Matthew teaches us, and that’s not what’s happening in this one big, ugly bill. That’s not consistent with what my faith teaches me.”

Is this true? Are we as Americans supposed to give to all those in need? Is our country, by our laws and politics, taking away from those that are not as well off? Is that what Jesus was teaching in this passage? Hardly. Hakeem has followed the quote perfectly, “I can do all things with a verse taken out of context.” And taking it out of context is an understatement. He twisted this verse around so much I was impressed he cited the biblical address correctly. Context is everything for correct biblical interpretation. When you scroll back a couple of verses here in Matthew 25, you begin to see why. Back in verse 31 Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…” So right there you have the context and the government aint it. Jesus is talking about what will happen when the end of the world occurs, not policy making. Jesus is talking about Himself, not Hakeem and the other House legislators. But context doesn’t matter to the elected legislator from New York. It can’t! Because if it did matter, he would quickly find out that the passages in the bible that do talk about government will not have anything to say about how the government is morally responsible to feed, give money, and provide health insurance to the unemployed. Jeff Carter was right when he said, “A quote without context is like a recipe without ingredients.” And Hakeem is trying to bake a cake with nothing but air in the pan.

But what is the passage really saying? I mean the verse was quoted correctly by Hakeem. Jesus did commend those that people gave food, clothing and drink to those in need. So is Hakeem that far off the mark? Yes. In fact ,his shot is not even on the firing range. Jesus explains in this passage that when He comes back, people will be separated. The haves and the have nots. Or to use the biblical term: the sheep from the goats. Once that separation is completed. He then blesses those that fed and clothed Him. But the people were confused and very humble (being that they were true christians) and asked Jesus, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?” (v37-38) Jesus then said to them, “Truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (v40) The key part of Christ’s response is “my brothers”. So when Jesus was talking about giving to those in need, he was referring to fellow christians.

So let us take a step back and summarize it here: when Jesus returns, He will reward Christians who gave to those Christians who are in need. Does this sound like anything that is going on in Washington? In fact, what it does sound like is the early church in Acts: “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:45) This is the job of every christian. We are to love and give to those in need, especially those who are our brothers and sisters. In fact looking throughout Scripture, you do not see the government being called to give to those in need. No, that is reserved for both family and the church. God did not create a government to be a welfare state. The government is not our genie in the bottle to provide for us. Those able to work to provide for their families. And if certain people in certain situations can not, then family is supposed to help them. And if there is no family to help them, then the church is supposed to step in. It is very easy to stand self-righteously and condemn people for not being generous when it is not your own money. I wonder if it was Hakeem’s money being put on the table to give to those in need how much he would put up for the cause? Don’t forget it was the rich man not willing to part with his money that Jesus wouldn’t let follow Him.