There are two basic motivations for being radical. There are those who are radical because they want to accomplish something. And there are those who are radical because they believe something has been accomplished. These differences in motivation are sometimes only theoretical, but they are also often crucial. They may mean the difference between frustration and faithfulness.
I am aware that I have led the reader into a dark forest of unexplained words. I have written that first paragraph with precision, and I hope that my meaning will become clear as I define my terms. And as my meaning becomes clear, I trust that the reader will become capable of both intellectual assent and action response.
Let us examine first of all the term radical. According to Webster, a radical is "one that advocates a decided and often extreme change from existing, usual, or traditional views, habits, conditions, or methods." I can subscribe to that description of myself wholeheartedly. The denotation of the word, that is, the strict literal definition, which we find in Webster, is one that should embrace all Christians. The term radical conjures up all kinds of images that we must reject (violence, arrogance, etc.), but we cannot be followers of Jesus Christ and reject radicalism per se.
Light coming into darkness is the radical biblical description of Jesus coming into the world. When light confronts darkness, a change is demanded. The change is so complete that it might actually be termed a reversal. The darkness is transformed so that the end result of the bright light of Jesus coming into a sinful world is "an extreme change from existing ... conditions."
Now it is true that the world has rejected such a change and has crucified Jesus. Crucifixion is the most extreme rejection just as conversion is fanatic acceptance. The radical onslaught of light is so uncompromising that it demands such an either-or response. The world as a whole has made one response: "He came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him " (John 1:11). But some have made an opposite response just as extreme in its own right as crucifixion: "But to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12).
So we have in our own day the same elements of radical confrontation that Jesus experienced in his day. We have no historical or biblical basis for saying that the world has become any more receptive to truth during the 20 centuries since Christ. Both history and the Bible point instead to a deterioration process. We Christians are supposed to be and indeed must be the light that is penetrating a dark world. There is a kingdom of God, represented by us, and a kingdom of Satan, represented by the "existing, usual, or traditional views, habits, conditions, or methods."
In the face of this situation, a Christian must be careful to observe two principles. First of all, no Christian may assume that she is free from internal darkness. We are all struggling against the darkness around us, of course; but we must all recognize that, unlike Jesus, the darkness is also within us. The radical change has begun within us, and a sharp battle is now being waged. We have confidence in the outcome because we have confidence in Jesus. But we must not overlook the fact that we have not yet "arrived " (Philippians 3:12).
Once we understand that reality, we must be even more careful to observe the second principle: we must not bless the status quo. We can readily see the temptation that arises the more we appreciate the forces that are at work within us. We coexist every day with evil. That is a fact that means this life is a great tension for us. But we do not, we must not, we can not peacefully coexist with evil. We don't say, "Live and let live." The light and the darkness can't coexist in peace. The status quo in our lives is that we are sinners; the status quo in the world is darkness. We do not accept either. Even granted that we will always be sinners until the Lord returns, we can't be lulled into apathy. If we lessen the continuing demand for extreme change, we show that we are not children of light, and we no longer represent the radical alternative of the kingdom of God. We can never make our peace with a world to which Jesus brought a sword, until Jesus returns and "the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ" (Revelation 11:15).
It is clear that we as Christians cannot accept radicalism for its own sake. For the light of Jesus Christ has a well-defined content. Jesus himself is the content. He represents a "condition" and a "method" that are distinct, and which are clearly presented in the New Testament. So we do not go about simply flailing our arms against the status quo or indiscriminately disrupting its processes and thereby claim that we are being faithful to Christ. But it is just as obvious that we cannot silence the voice of protest, the "No!" that paves the way for the alternative that we represent. Jesus did not compromise the ideal; he did not permit the light to be polluted. For once we back off from the radical alternative and water it down, we lose our power to become children of God.
There are two ways we may respond to the presence of evil within us and around us (assuming we don't wholeheartedly embrace it): we may accept it with reluctance, or we may repent. To the extent that we daily and desperately repent, we are of the light. To the extent that we accept evil as necessary and therefore conclude that we no longer are called to weep for it, confess it, and confront it with obedience to Christ, to that extent we ratify the crucifixion.
If we accept a world of darkness as a given, we cannot embrace anything that such a world produces as "great" or even "good." That which God produces is alone in its goodness, so we can never abandon the apartness, the holiness, of the kingdom of God ("holy" literally means "set apart and dedicated to the service or worship of God"). We can never equate the kingdom of God with a particular political program, nor can we ever embrace a political figure as a social "Messiah." Nothing that humanity initiates, no matter how relatively good it may be, is radical enough to command anything more than our passing allegiance. The problem with calling any society "great" or any era a "generation of peace" is that we leave no room in our vocabulary for the terminology of the kingdom. The difference between the peace that the United States offers and the peace of Jesus Christ is so drastic that we Christians may have to revert to the use of the Hebrew term shalom until even that is confiscated and vulgarized by secular thought.
But the problem is more than just one of semantics. The fact is that we have begun, in our country, to equate approximate truth with Truth, and we have decided to sanctify the status quo in lieu of holding out for the "impossible" alternative of the kingdom of God. The word "radical" has become a dirty word in our society, but we must strive to salvage it or else come up with a synonym, because we cannot abandon the radical nature of our faith. While there is much that goes by the name radical that is not Christian, there is absolutely nothing that is Christian that is not also radical.
When we Christians maintain a business-as-usual type of life, we are really saying that either the kingdom of God has arrived, or it is an unreachable goal that we are not asked to implement in this life. In the former case we are revealing a profound ignorance of the "conditions" and "methods" of either this world or the kingdom. In the latter case we are side-stepping the New Testament call to discipleship.
Nothing that I have observed within the Christian community causes greater anguish than the fact that we have lost our appreciation of what God demands of us and of our world. We have baptized the American way of life. There is therefore no need for radical change. Nor is there opportunity even to weep for our culture. We get the picture that if Jesus came today he would find more reason to honor America than to call her to repentance and faith. Perhaps no one would say that our righteousness is perfect, but many would say that it is impressive, and certainly a far cry from the biblical concept that all our righteousness is "a heap of filthy rags."
One inconsistency may have occurred to the reader thus far. I have talked about the need to be radical while admitting that the kingdom of God will never truly arrive until Christ returns. Isn't radicalism, then, a futile exercise? But the reader assumes that I espouse radicalism because I want to accomplish something, namely, the kingdom of God. I labor under no such illusion. I do not read in the New Testament where I am called upon to "build" the kingdom. The kingdom is normally spoken of as a given, something that is already here in the sense that Jesus has planted its seed within every believer, and something that will also be fully realized when God intervenes at the end of history. The kingdom exists for us in two tenses, present and future, but in neither case does it exist because we have initiated it or accomplished it. We are called upon to enter the kingdom now and to receive it in the future. These acts on our part are not passive (we must enter the kingdom "violently," that is, with abrupt change being caused thereby, and we must receive the kingdom as "little children," that is, with enthusiasm and simplicity as a gift from a father). But these acts are not creative in the sense that we may be said to create the kingdom by entering it or receiving it. The kingdom does not depend upon us. Rather, we depend upon the kingdom. Our radicalism consists in being true to the kingdom at all times and places, being transformed by the renewal of our minds, so that we carry out on earth the will of God that is already complete in heaven, regardless of present adversities or consequences.
The person who is a radical because he wants to accomplish something begins with a problem. He may have a very correct understanding of the problem. He concludes that in an effort to solve the problem (let us say, the problem of poverty) radical action is necessary. He strategizes an approach that will induce the rich to share their substance with the poor. His radicalism is effective in so far as he accomplishes his goal. In this case, he winds up being frustrated. He may consider other approaches, perhaps violent ones, that will advance his cause. I do not want to falsely characterize this person as totally naive, but I do believe he is misguided, at least in his attempt to eradicate poverty. For him the future is uncertain, it is the good future that he wants to secure. His concept of the future and of what it must be motivates his present action. He is working under unbearable pressure that drains the joy and the spontaneity from his life. In a very real sense, he is not free. His concept of the future dictates his present action, because its realization depends upon his present action just as an effect depends upon its cause.
The Christian who follows the approach of Jesus is a radical not because of his analysis of the problem, but because of his understanding of the person of Christ and his kingdom. This is a vital difference. He is not motivated so much by a problem as by a promise. The promise is: "The kingdom is yours." If you believe that promise, the natural outflow of your life will be a disciplined radicalism. You will not be a radical because you are trying to create a future, but because you have accepted the certainty of a reality that in turn is creating your own life. The promise of a future mercy, for example, permits us to be merciful today. The future penetrates, conditions, and produces the present, rather than vice versa.
I submit that the outlook on life of people who are absolutely convinced of the promises of God will make them dangerous revolutionaries for Jesus Christ. A spontaneous radical spirit will blossom within them to the extent that they will be free to lay down their lives for their fellows.
I am a radical to the extent that I truly believe; I do not have to do anything, really, other than believe. That is a dangerous statement to make, because so many will take shelter in their "belief" and excuse their whole life of complacency and cruelty. But our belief must be the basis for our lives in order to be valid. Jesus made a similarly dangerous statement once when he said, "This is working for God: You must believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29).
The problem with the Christian community today is not that it is apathetic and unconcerned. These are only symptoms of the problem. The basic problem is that we don't believe God.
A related meaning of the term radical is, according to Webster, "of or pertaining to the root, proceeding from the root." In mathematics, for instance, a radical is the root of a number. In biology, a radish is an edible root. A radical person is someone who is rooted in something that is itself radical. Show me where the roots of a tree penetrate, and I will tell you the quantity and quality of fruit that the tree produces. In a sense, I only need to know about the root, I am not interested in the fruit.
The question for us is the question Jesus asked in Luke 18:8, "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?" Of all the questions that Jesus might ask, this is the only one that really needs asking. For if you have faith, then you will naturally become poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker, persecuted (Matthew 5:1-12).
The commandment of God to love one's neighbor as one's self is burdensome only to those who do not know that they themselves are loved by God. If we understood the compassion that Christ has for us, we would be free to be compassionate. And the good works that would spontaneously flow from our lives would bear witness to the radical alternative of the kingdom and its Lord.
Depending on the Spirit
Acts 1:6 records the question that perhaps was asked by Jesus' disciples many times: "Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" The Lord replied, "It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses ...." Every day Christians are tempted to accept some strategy for the arrival of the kingdom. The strategy may go something like this: "If we do such and such, then such and such will happen. But then so and so may do this and that." The options may be carried out forever. You see that we are reasoning from the present into a tentative future. Because tomorrow bears so many contradictory possibilities, which no one can foresee, we usually are stymied from ever acting according to the leading of the Spirit. We are not to be leaderless; we are to be led by the Spirit. But we are to forego any full-fledged attempt at strategizing our progress. We are not to be concerned about anything other than today's compassionate witness. We are to seek the kingdom of God today. We may be sure that tomorrow's evil awaits us, but the only way we can be overwhelmed by tomorrow is by permitting it to govern what we do today (Matthew 6:33-34). The ultimate future is known to the Christian. The future belongs eventually to God. Therefore, the only unknown about which we are to be concerned is today's faithfulness.
Jesus brings this out in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). The priest and the Levite who hastened by were perhaps well-motivated in their desire to avoid involvement. They undoubtedly had many important and worthwhile things to do. But the immediate issue is really the only issue for the Christian that demands obedience. If we are concerned about the consequences of faith to the extent that they determine present action or inaction, then we are living not by faith but by a calculating reason that shuts out the possibility for faith. As Clarence Jordan said, "Faith is living in scorn of consequences."
Unfortunately, many Christian activists share with their socially conservative brothers an incorrect methodology. They are both strategists. I believe God is concerned more about our immediate faithfulness than our long-range accomplishments or non-accomplishments. The servant who received the one talent and buried it in the ground was victimized by his view of what would happen if ... (Matthew 25:14-30). He was a conservative. That is, he wanted to conserve his talent no matter what. The disciples, on the other hand, had such a high view of the importance of their kingdom movement that they could not permit their revolutionary leader to be waylaid by a group of little children (Luke 18:15-17). They were radicals whose compelling concept of the need for change did not allow them to seize the present opportunity to implement the kingdom.
Strategies for converting the world and accomplishing social justice are at best temporary tools for the Christian. They may give some limited insight concerning the wisdom of a present course. But I would offer as an almost infallible rule that if you are guided for any length of time by any continuous strategy for either your own life or your organization, then chances are you are following some pagan wisdom. God never seems to give us broad outlines in advance, and we do well not to devise them for ourselves. The bigger barns that we build may not be filled with grain (Luke 12:16-21). They may contain grand redemptive schemes to be unleashed with precision timing for maximum effect. But the only question we really need ask is, "What does today's faithfulness require of me?" There is great freedom and simplicity in living for today's kingdom possibilities. What will all this accomplish, you ask? That is left to God. We do these things and others because we are rooted in the rich soil of the kingdom.
What happens tomorrow may not reveal our wisdom, and any good that we accomplish will probably be swallowed up by "existing conditions." But we believe more deeply in the final vindication of the kingdom ethic than in the apparent circumstances of history.
I am writing these things because I believe there is a great deal of Christian radicalism that isn't radical enough. When we are most concerned with truth, we will have little concern for consequences, and vice versa. I am convinced that the early Christians turned the world upside down partly because they didn't devote too much effort figuring out how to do it. Christian radicals, myself included, spend time taking the pulse to see how strong the movement is. Our real strength lies in our ability to respond with a spontaneous faithfulness to daily circumstances and let the movement take care of itself.
We pass by the personal opportunities for turning the other cheek and for loving our enemies, because we are so concerned to take a public stance. We forget the darkness that is within us, where radical confrontation must begin. By all means let us continue our open advocacy of social righteousness. But let us not overlook the daily opportunities for personal faithfulness to the kingdom of God and to our brothers and sisters. More kingdom opportunities will come our way by accident than by design.
The persecution that came to the early church must have destroyed whatever strategy they may have had for the orderly communication of the gospel and for the application of their resources to social betterment. But these disruptive adversities only served to dramatize the difference between the non-believer and the believer, or, more pointedly, between the Christian who is oriented toward potential results and the Christian who is grounded in the promised kingdom.
When we lay down our arms before our enemies, we are saying, "I trust God." When we give away tomorrow's security for the sake of meeting someone else's need today, we are saying, "God is my security." When we rejoice in the impoverishment and the imprisonment that our world wishes upon us, we are saying, "Our abundance and our freedom are in Christ and his kingdom." This is the simple, unshakable trust that constitutes our radical witness to the world.
The kingdom of God in relation to this world is infinitely radical. There must be a constant desperate seeking of the kingdom for our lives and implementing of its teachings in our relationships. The Sermon on the Mount gives an excellent sampling of divine imperatives for this life. It is not a picture of the future kingdom, but of the present kingdom in tension with the world of darkness. (As evidence of this, we need only note that the Beatitudes make mention of elements that will not be relevant to the final kingdom, such as mourning in Matthew 5:5 and persecution in 5:10). Every non-radical Christian ethic may be dismissed as phony. Every person who has made peace with this world is an enemy of God.
But our practice of these truths is incomplete if we are motivated by the noble ends that we hope to achieve. The world will probably dash our hopes and leave us with our frustration. The good and faithful servants are those who love because they are of God, who give because they are possessed by the mind of Christ, who becomes oppressed because God in Christ has become one with the oppressed. The fulfillment and joy of the disciples comes from the measure of their faithfulness, regardless of their accomplishment. Our gentleness, our mercy, are best understood not as means to ends, but as simple reflections of the kingdom mentality.
This spirit is the unique essence of the radicalism of Jesus. He healed 10 lepers because it was his nature to be compassionate. Only one of them returned to give thanks (Luke 17:11-19), but he did not heal them as a strategy to win their allegiance. His joy was full because he had done the will of God, and that was sufficient for him.
May we also discover the secret of this naive non-strategy. Our accountability is to God, not to tomorrow, not to history. The world touches us deeply with its need, but it has no judgment to impose upon us, no potential results for us to achieve, no model to measure our efficiency. And therein lies our freedom. If we understand that freedom, we will show the world what it means to be radical.
Bill Lane was a Sojourners contributing editor when this article appeared. This article appeared courtesy of Koinonia Partners in Americus, Georgia.
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