Jesus Had Rights
I’ve been thinking about rights. I’ve been thinking about the intersection of rights and my faith. When I read what the bible has to say about individual rights, I frankly do not see a great deal that supports this notion of American individualism. If you look to the example of Jesus Christ, never has any other person on Earth had as much claim to “rights”. If you accept the bible as true, you believe Jesus Christ is God incarnate. What is the example of Jesus when it comes to rights?
What did Jesus do? “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).
Sacrifice of rights is the ultimate example of the love of God. I do not see any such qualifiers or historical context necessary to understand this verse. Sacrifice of rights is a means of displaying love. Jesus shows us how to truly demonstrate love here. How do I show you my love for you? I lay down my life for you. Furthermore, not only are Christians called to engage in this self-sacrificial love for each other just for the benefit of each other. It is this self-sacrificial love that will indicate to the world that believers are truly followers of God. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35).
The goal of Christians is to glorify Christ through thought, word, and deed. We are called to make disciples of many nations. This is the focus. I struggle with the conversation of rights because it seems so self focused and focus on self is not the call of the Spirit.
This is exactly why Paul ignores the topic of rights altogether. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” (Romans 13:1), and in Corinthians, he says “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7). It is better to be defrauded than to take your brother to court. It is better to be defrauded because it keeps you focused on others. It keeps you focused on making sure others have the ability for life. It means that others have the possibility to experience the grace of God through our actions. I need not be focused on my rights when there are so many of my brothers and sisters around the world who are having their rights violated. I need not be focused on my rights when there are orphan children going to bed with the active pangs of hunger. I need not be focused on my rights when young girls are ruthlessly dragged from their homes and sold into sexual slavery. I need not worry about my rights when there is a mother and father who have to ID their dead daughter because an 18-year-old with an AR-15 took her away.
“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13–14)
Freedom here is the freedom from bondage to the Biblical law as a means to salvation, yes, but I love the way it pictures freedom. Freedom is not a focus on self, but how can I use my freedom to serve?
We can quibble about the constitution. We can go back and forth about intentions and the meanings of words. However, I am writing this to my fellow Christians to ask a simple question: If Jesus was willing to lay down his life, so that you might have salvation, do you think it might be an act of love to lay down your rifle so that a child might have life. We can bicker about efficacy or numbers or all of the rest. I just want to ask you to consider the heart of Jesus and how he might respond to the mother of a child who died in Uvalde.
I am just asking because might something be done? If the commonality between the developed world that prevents mass shootings is common sense gun control, might we do the same? If we can lay down our right here to save the lives of others, might we demonstrate in the smallest possible way the love of Christ to others?
If my daughter were shot in one of these horrific acts of violence, would I want others to respond to me by talking about their rights? Or, would I want them to do something, anything to make sure this never happens again?
It’s hard for me to imagine Jesus choosing an AR-15 over a child. Brother, sister, isn’t that hard for you as well?
