“Scripture’s Call to Leverage Privilege”

December 6, 2023 by darrelvoth 4 Comments

This is the subtitle of a book I have not read. So I’m not going to critique the book, its author, or even the subtitle, but those words did get me thinking. I’ll share my reflections here…

The idea of leveraging privilege I think has twisted our best, most holy, and even humble intentions into something that—within our acts of service, giving, and sacrifice—preserves a core belief of superiority and rights to privilege.

There is a very strong theme throughout the Old Testament of “blessed to be a blessing,” where we channel our blessings toward inclusion, welcome, and shared status. This could be thought of as leveraging our privilege. And is part of our call as followers. But what if these are just the training wheels? Might Jesus be calling his followers to something deeper and less comfortable? Isn’t this what Jesus always did?

What I hear most often in Jesus’ various calls and instructions were not so much about leverage but almost of abnegation. It’s not that we utterly disempower ourselves, but the way of Jesus recenters our power source from our beliefs, privileges, and assets and entrusts it instead to an interconnected reliance. Jesus not only called his followers to live this way with each other (Jn13:12-17) but even as they were sent out to others who were not of their number (Lk10:1-7). It’s found in the ethos of the sermon on the mount (Mt5-7), in Jesus’ challenge to the rich, young ruler (Mk10:17-31), and most notably in the incarnation (Ph2:1-8) and in Jesus’ amazing prayer for union in John 17.

Let’s not be satisfied to merely use our privilege for others but to actually step aside and allow the overlooked to step into places we’ve occupied by sake of our privilege. Not because we’re less valuable or less deserving but because it’s what Jesus showed us. God became human to show us the way, not to take over and do it all himself: “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” If Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death,” what could you do in order to live out and “have the same mindset as Christ?”