Jesus – The Ultimate Social Influencer?

I would definitely flunk the pop culture category on Jeopardy.

The image above (with a slight edit) illustrates Rolling Stone’s Top 30 Social Influencers of 2024 and I have never heard of any of these humans. They often influence what to buy or not buy, how to live or how not to live, how to see the world in a new way.

I heard, in Church recently, Jesus referred to as the ultimate influencer. This hadn’t occurred to me before.

Jesus didn’t say much about buying stuff (although he had thoughts on financial priorities.) Jesus did say a lot about how to live and how to see the world.

True confession: I spend a lot of time in my head trying to figure out how people who say they follow Jesus have nothing to say about what’s going on in our country right now if they voted for the current occupant of The White House. This is a spiritual matter to me, not a political one. I would ask the same question if the President was from another party – and I have.

In this situation, though, I’ve come to three conclusions:

• People who are untroubled by what’s going on in our country do not know what’s going on.
• People who are untroubled by what’s going on in our country do not want to know what’s going on.
• People who are untroubled by what’s going on in our country do not believe the news reports about what’s going on.

I shared an image on social media that one of my colleagues – BG – posted first which says: “If you have ever wondered what you’d do during slavery, The Holocaust, or The Civil Rights Movement, you’re doing it right now” and I know that some of the people I love consider that statement self-righteous or naive or mean. But I stand by it.

I know a naturalized citizen who has lost his job (with medical insurance) helping refugees resettle because there are no more refugees coming into the United States. Even those cleared for entry, even those to be welcomed here because they helped Americans at great risk to themselves and their families back in their homeland are no longer welcome. I know several scientists frantically seeking new funding for their cancer research after NIH grants were cut. I have friends who have worked for USAID trying to convey that we – the United States – are causing the deaths of thousands of people either by stopping the deliver of food or medicine.

Are we or are we not influenced by the teaching of Jesus? It doesn’t matter if we vote Republican or Democrat or Green Party or Libertarian or we don’t vote at all. If we call ourselves Christian, it means nothing if we are not influenced by the One who said:

• You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. (i.e. not money)
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (i.e. the “woke”)
• You cannot serve God and money. (i.e. are we willing to ignore the poor for our own financial gain?)
• I desire mercy, not sacrifice. I came not to call the righteous but sinners. (i.e. beware the self-righteous who show no mercy to vulnerable people)
• Why do you call me “Lord, Lord” and not do what I tell you? (i.e. why we all need to confess every day that we can do better.)

What specifically can we do?

• We can call our members of Congress. If yours are like mine, they’ve stopped answering their phones. But we can leave messages.
• We can speak up when someone openly expresses racism and makes comments based on white supremacy. I live in N.C. A pastor used the N-word in my presence within the last six months. When someone comments that “those people have made bad decisions” ask if they have ever made a bad decision and what did they lose because of it?
• We can financially support organizations that feed the poor, serve the unhoused, assist those without medical insurance.
• We can volunteer our time to those same organizations.
• We can vote out people whose policies privilege only the rich.
• We can take an honest look at ourselves and our own privilege. Who do we know who happens to get their food from a food pantry? What is the first and last name of the poorest person we know and what do we know about them? When was the last time we had a conversation with a Person of Color or an immigrant or a person in the LGBTQ community about what their daily lives are like?

My point is this: how is Jesus influencing our lives? Not everyone who reads this claims to be Christian. But if we do claim Jesus . . .