Fighting for Bread and Other Things
(Kingdom Advocacy For Eager and Reluctant Fighters)
Several years ago I opened a loaf of bread that would change my life. (In actual honesty that may be an over-statement — but it made a great first sentence). The bread in question was a loaf of gluten-free bread, meaning it had cost me approximately three times the amount of a regular loaf of wheat bread. When I opened the bread to make a sandwich for my daughter Nora, who can’t eat gluten due to her Celiac disease, I was dismayed to see there was a huge crater of a hole that ran all the way through the loaf. By my estimation (which is by no means mathematical), nearly a third of the loaf was missing due to the hole in the center of each piece.
A normal sort of person might have shrugged the loss off, a little ticked off but resigned to buying another $5 loaf. Not I. Deciding I couldn’t handle the injustice of it, I sat down to my laptop and crafted a letter that kindly but systematically outlined how the bread was unusable, how we were very regular customers of the brand and how we wished to be reimbursed in some fashion. I took pictures of the loaf for documentation. Then I looked up the company website and sent the letter and pictures to their customer service team. When I eventually received a letter in the mail that contained an apology and coupons for three free loaves of bread, I was elated. I took a selfie with said coupons to document my win for the side of justice. And then I had a thought: When was the last time I had fought this hard for something?
I haven’t always been a fighter. Being raised by two confirmed peacemakers has wired me to more often smooth things over rather than challenge. The strength of this peace-making tendency is the ability to see both sides of an issue and build bridges. The weakness is that many times I have had an opportunity to honestly confront a problem and have stayed silent. I heard one person say the latter isn’t true peace-making but rather “peace-faking” and I think I agree. For most of my life I’ve been a reluctant advocate, at best.
I haven’t really seen advocacy or fighting for a cause as an active reality in the Church. Growing up, I either got the message that Christians should just “be nice,” or I saw Christians fighting for a select few things (unborn lives, traditional marriage, conservative sex ed curriculum in schools, etc.). It was okay to fight for these things, but if we spoke too openly or fought too hard for “other” things, then we were a little too dangerous, a little too crazy, maybe a little too liberal. Knowing what I now know about the diversity within Christianity, I realize not all churches are like this, but this was my experience.
Lately as I’ve become re-obsessed with Jesus, a question has naturally followed: What kind of advocate was my Savior?
Was he reluctant or bold? Are the the things Christians are fighting for today the same things Jesus would be fighting for? And here’s a big one for me: are there things close to God’s heart that we’re NOT fighting for? If the most recent thing we’ve fought hard for is the integrity of a loaf of bread, I think we have some problems to address.
First, let me define my key term: what, exactly, is an advocate? In the biblical context, I’m referring to the word “parakletos,” a Greek word used in the New Testament to describe Jesus, but also used to describe a Roman advocate (or lawyer). Outside a spiritual context, the word functions as a person who acts as a lawyer, one who pleads the case of another and comes to the aid of those in need. Other synonyms might be a defender, helper, or comforter. An advocate is one who stands up for a person or cause. The same Greek word is used to describe Jesus in 1 John 2:1. As our advocate, Jesus stands by us and calls us his own, defending us from the evil in the world even as he defends us before his Father, sparing us from the punishment we deserve.
“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
The preeminent way Jesus acted as an advocate was to stand in our place in the fight against sin. But this is not the only act of advocacy Jesus performed during his lifetime. One of the primary examples people bring up when trying to find a biblical precedence for activism or protesting is the example of Jesus storming the temple courts. And we can’t ignore it, precisely because it seems so out of character. In this scene, the Prince of Peace shoved tables over, drove people and animals out of the court with a whip and passionately ordered the merchants in the temple to get everything out and “stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” So much confrontation, so much storming from the man who otherwise calmed storms. Why? His disciples realized he had “zeal” for the house of the Lord. In other words, he was passionate about the Church. He fought against greed, corruption and anything else that would stand in the way of people coming to meet with God. He fought for the reformation and integrity of the Church when the Church was out of line.
This instance shows us that Jesus could be a loud advocate, but not every act of his advocacy was so dramatic or so public. One of the most powerful ways Jesus advocated for those he loved was through isolated prayer. He habitually withdrew to fast and pray, and through prayer he fought for protection, unity, and joy for all believers.
He spoke to individuals and groups inside and outside of the temple, calmly confronting the habits and patterns in their lives that ran counter to the heart of God. He didn’t turn any tables over in these instances but was equally direct. He fought for people to live the lives God designed for them.
In Luke chapter 7, we see Jesus empathize with and speak up for a variety of people: the hurt, sick, abandoned, alienated, downtrodden and rejected ones of society. He used both words and miracles to advocate for these ones.
He honestly confronted people with the truth even when that truth was so counter-cultural that, on one occasion, he created a furious mob (Luke 4:16–31). What was he advocating for in this event? He was correcting the Jews’ assumption that God’s message and favor was solely for them. He was advocating for the “outsiders,” or Gentiles. In this same speech, Jesus also advocated for bringing good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. These are the causes Jesus cared about, the causes he says he was anointed for.
In summary, Jesus championed the cause of the vulnerable. He advocated for those who needed aid, even when they didn’t realize they needed it. He fought for those in his circle and especially for those outside of it. Quietly and loudly, sometimes through confrontation and other times through isolated prayer, in every instance full of grace and truth. He leaned heavy on truth for those who’d been deceived, and heavy on grace for those who’d been shown no mercy by society. He fought selflessly, willing to sacrifice his own reputation, the “likes” of others and eventually his life for the ones who needed it most (that would be all of us).
I love the things best that I have fought for: certain friendships, my marriage, the school that gives my daughter the care and love she needs in the context of her medical conditions. I never thought of myself as a natural fighter, but the more I grow up the more things I find that are worth fighting for. So I’m learning.
Some of us don’t have to learn. My son Abel was born to fight; he challenges every form of injustice, usually on his own behalf (“I’ll be representing myself, your honor.”) Did his brother get a larger biscuit at dinner than he did, or five minutes longer of video game time? Did his sister get to choose the last TV show and he didn’t get his turn to choose today? If so, watch out because Abel will cry JUSTICE at the top of his lungs. We challenge him to use his God-given loud voice (bless it) for things that matter. He’s a born advocate, but what is he called to advocate for?
There are so many things we CAN fight for. I remember a few years ago there was an apartment complex being built in my neighborhood. A church down the street put together a committee and held weekly meetings to try and protest the expansion of the neighborhood. Their letter-board loudly announced their position against the apartments and invited everyone to participate in their fight to protect and conserve what had always been. I would drive past the letter board and think to myself, “Really? Is that the thing? Is there nothing else in the world that we can better spend our passion on?”
There’s a question eager and reluctant advocates alike can be asking: What am I actually called to fight for? Whether we’re born peacemakers or born challengers, there are things worth fighting for, things we may be asked to fight for. I want to be confident that the things I shout about are things God’s heart is beating for. I’d like to spend my passion on more than just a loaf of bread.
What’s the last thing you passionately fought for? Was it for your dinner to be cooked correctly at a restaurant? For (or against) masking in public? For civil rights or immigration rights? For abortion to be abolished? Was it concerning people of color, the homeless or prison reform? There are a whole lot of things we can advocate for that align with Scripture, and not all of them fall neatly within a political party. Let’s lean in and ask Jesus what he is asking us to use our voice for in this season. And then let’s do our best to advocate in the ways Jesus did, full of grace and truth.
“Who gave human beings their mouths?…Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:11–12).
