Jesus always has, and always will, be one who demands our all! So when a ‘rich young ruler’ approached him in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus wasn’t the least bit interested in all they had in common. He was likely well aware that there were aspects of the young man’s life that were genuine marks of discipleship: marks upon which they most certainly could agree. But there was still one thing missing from the young ruler’s life. And so when it became clear that he was unwilling to sell his possessions and give to the poor, he walked away from Jesus, ‘sad, shocked, and grieving!’ Apparently, that’s just how important caring for the poor really is to Jesus: so important that he is unwilling to budge on God’s call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Caring for the poor is part of the greatest commandment: to love God, AND to love our neighbors. And when we are unwilling to do that, nothing else matters to Jesus. So there really wasn’t any need for the two of them to sit down and talk about areas of agreement. Any common ground they may have had just wasn’t enough!
For the past eight years, I, and countless others, have sought to try and understand the MAGA movement in this country. How much time has been spent talking with those whose thoughts and ideas are different from our own? How much time has been spent having difficult and courageous conversations, all in an attempt to understand ‘the other side’? How much time has been spent embracing a ‘purple church,’ because we’ve not wanted to offend people with whom we seem to have so much in common, as if both sides of the MAGA debate are moral equivalents? And what has changed? What exactly has been accomplished? Nothing! The MAGA movement continues to have the support of roughly 1/3 of the nation, and poll numbers affirming the felon in the White House haven’t budged!
It goes without saying that all of us have things in common with those who have succumbed to the MAGA cult. We’re all human beings. We all bear the mark of our creator, and have been lovingly created in the image of God. We all have the capacity to do good in this life, and none of us should be known by the worst things we have ever done. And when it comes to the things of God, in the end, most of us are all striving to worship the same Deity!
But sometimes common ground, and all the things we are able to agree on, just aren’t enough. And this was the case for Jesus and the rich young ruler! The poor were suffering, and there wasn’t really any need to discuss the commonalities of faith. It was time to feed the hungry and clothe the naked! Period! And if you were unwilling to do that, all the common ground in the world wasn’t going to be enough to make your lifestyle acceptable in the eyes of God.
Perhaps this is why we have no record of Harriet Tubman sitting down to find common ground with the Brodess family that enslaved her; or of Dietrich Bonhoeffer wanting to find common ground with Adolf Hitler. Sometimes, evil is so blatantly evil, wrongs are so apparently wrong, and the suffering of the poor and the oppressed is so obvious to the world, that discussion must give way to action: action that names evil for what it is, action that seeks to right the world’s wrongs, and action that strives to put an end to the suffering of others! And this is precisely where America is today.
Sadly, I have far too many MAGA people in my life today; and they are people with whom I have a great deal in common. But those commonalities have accomplished nothing over the past eight years. The MAGA movement is full of people who have been led astray by persuasive and charismatic charlatans, and adherents have been blinded by their fear and ignorance (not their intelligence, mind you, but their ignorance!) They are not going to change! They love what they see happening today, just as they loved what that saw happen the first time around! And all this talk about a growing number of Trumpers regretting their November vote is nothing more than wishful thinking.
So it’s time for action. The time for talking has come to an end. Discussion, and the naïve belief that if we just find common ground, we will be able to heal this nation, has passed! It’s time to organize, and and to better ally ourselves with those being pushed to the margins of our society. It’s time to resist whatever we can, however we can, because none of this is normal. It’s time stand up, push back, speak out. Even Jesus knew that sometimes common ground isn’t enough! Maybe it’s time for us to come to that same realization?
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