J. Douglas Dortch, Jr., Ph.D.
First Baptist Church, Tallahassee, FL
“Fight for the Underdog Anyway”
From the Series "The Paradoxical Commandments"
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46
October 21, 2007
It’s amazing, isn’t it, how quickly we learn the lessons of pecking order and how when we find ourselves in vulnerable positions we start looking for someone with more power and position to come to our defense? Like the story of the first grader who comes running in from the playground: “Teacher, teacher, there’s a big fight on the playground, and the boy on the bottom wants you to come quick!”
I guess he does. All it takes is one experience on the bottom of the pile and you know how much of a blessing it is when someone comes along who can pull you out and pull you up. And conversely, when you are the one who is doing the pulling, you know how much of a blessing it can to be in a position to offer that kind of help.
This is the point Jesus is making with this teaching from Matthew’s gospel. Unlike today, Christians in the first century world were by and large on the bottom of virtually every demographic category. There were some disciples who were educated and there were some who were even wealthy. But for the most part, early disciples were poor and not formally educated, and so they often found themselves in places where they were hungry and thirty, sick and in prison. In order for their needs to be met they had to take care of one another. And those who had access to food and clothing – they had especially to take care of those who were in more desperate situations.
You’d think this would have been easy. You’d think that Christians, who were by and large a dispossessed lot, would have been quick to rally to the cause of less fortunate believers. But like today, the pull they had to fight was the pull to gravitate toward the prosperous and more powerful crowd. The temptation they had to face was the temptation to give their attention to those in their day who were successful and accomplished. It is evidently a contradiction of our human nature, and always has been, to give of ourselves to those who have less status than we.
Which is what makes this paradoxical commandment so difficult – People follow only the top dogs, but we should fight for the underdogs anyway.
Now, you may hear that statement and say, “I love underdogs. I sympathize with underdogs. I always like it when an underdog is able to upset the apple cart and end up on top.” But do you follow the underdogs? Not likely. We follow the top dogs, because following them is safe and simple. Siding with the underdogs often puts us in situations where we might have to take a risk or make a sacrifice. We might have to get our hands dirty or our reputations sullied. But that is precisely what Jesus calls us to do and precisely where Jesus calls us to be. And he’s not afraid to scare us in order to get us moving in that direction.
In other words, this passage takes place in the context of Jesus’ judgment on the nations, a judgment that will take place at the time of his Second Coming. When he comes, he will come as a top dog. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” Do you hear the tones of triumph in that teaching? Of course you do. When Jesus returns, he will return as Sovereign Lord. As the book of Revelation says, “The kingdom of this world will have become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ” (Revelation 11:15). And everyone will want to be on the side of Jesus.
But that will not be the case, Jesus is telling us. There will be a separation in that day, a separation between those who have been on Jesus’ side and those who have not. And the difference between the two will be how each treated the underdogs of this world. “Whatever you did or did not do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did or did not do for me.”
What a powerful rebuke this teaching is to a world that is infected with what someone has called the love of “rankism” (Robert Fuller, Somebodies and Nobodies). By that I mean the tendency we have to admire and imitate those who have position in life.
How else to explain our society’s infatuation with celebrity status? In a more sane world, none of us would give a moment’s notice to some of the stuff that passes for front-page news. But if anyone had any doubts, this world hardly seems sane when we consider how in the face of the many challenges our society faces, we can be so obsessed with celebrity custody battles and rehab updates. Don’t get me wrong; I think we ought to care about what happens to Brittany Spears. But I think we ought also to care just as much about what happens to the Brittany who no one knows her last name. As the fiction writer Madeline L’Engle once explained it, “If you’re going to care about the fall of the sparrow, you can’t pick and choose who the sparrow’s going to be. It’s got to be everybody.”
Maybe the place for us to begin is by seeing ourselves as we really are – hapless, helpless humans who really don’t have a leg to stand on. Maybe the place for us to begin caring more about people on the margins is to recognize how far Jesus has brought us.
That seems to be Matthew’s strategy. Matthew was a tax collector, a member of a social group that was one of the most marginalized in the first century world. In the 9th chapter of his gospel, Matthew describes the circumstances in which Jesus came to his house, dined at his table, and accepted his fellowship. When the religious crowd expressed shock at Jesus’ choice of company, he answered them, “It’s not the healthy who need a doctor; it’s the sick.” And quoting the prophet Hosea, Jesus went on: “You need to go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” God’s heart is for His people not just to sing of His mercy. God’s heart is for His people to join Him in giving concrete expression to His mercy, even as did Jesus.
Lest we think that all people of status and power are hopelessly corrupt, there are examples of folk who are working to leverage what they have in ways that will make a difference. One of those persons is Bono, the lead singer for the popular group “U2.” Bono has thrown his enormous influence behind causes that target the poor and dispossessed, and he has chosen to do so as a person of faith.
Last year he was asked to address the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., where he took the opportunity to urge the United States to double its budget for foreign aid. And in the course of his comments, he made this arresting statement: “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard in the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives. And God is with us, if we are with them.”
“And God is with us if we are with them.” “Whatever you did for the least of these my brothers, you did also for me.”
How much are you willing to do? In what ways might you leverage the resources you have or the influence you have for the sake of those who are on the bottom of life? Can you give up a night to feed the homeless? Can you offer up an hour to mentor a struggling child? Can you volunteer at a pregnancy center? Can you sort clothes or food at a rescue mission? Whatever little thing you can do, when you do it out of gratitude for all Jesus has done for you, the power of His Spirit will use that to stir others to join you in ministering to others in life-changing ways.
I think what Jesus is telling us here is that it all boils down to just how much we care.
It’s like the story of the young boy who was on an errand for his mother and had just bought a dozen eggs. The family was poor; they didn’t have a lot of money, and so they didn’t have a lot of food. The eggs were important.
Walking out of the store, the boy tripped and dropped the sack with the eggs in it. All of them broke; the sidewalk was a mess. The boy tried not to cry
A few folk started gathering to see if he was OK and to tell them how sorry they were. In the midst of the words of pity, one man reached into his pocket and handed the boy a quarter. Then he turned to the group and said to all who had gathered, “I care 25 cents worth. How much do the rest of you care?”
This morning we gather to give worship to a Savior who gave everything for us sinners. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). If we are truly grateful for the difference Jesus has made in our lives, then we will give of what we have, small as it may seem, to be used in his name for the sake of others less fortunate.
When you do that, people may wonder about your sanity. “They don’t deserve it.” “They don’t appreciate it.” “They’ll never gain anything from it.” “They’re just losers, with a capital “L.” And maybe that’s generally true.
But every now and then an underdog wins. Even when he’s on rock bottom, every now and then he wins, with a little help from above.
“Teacher, teacher, there’s a child on the bottom! Wait, that’s you on the bottom!”
And now you know what the teacher will say, “Whatever you do for the least of these, my brothers, you do also for me.”