Episode 6

Sweet Jesus, be a loan payment.

This is the Lo-Fi Gospel Minute, a five-minute podcast about eternity. I’m Tripp Hudgins.

I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but there’s been a lot of scripture floating about the online progressive cul-de-saqs. I’m a fan of scripture and I’m glad to see it. And, I wonder who it’s really for.

Much of it has been directed at our more conservative and fundamentalist counterparts, of course. You see, President Biden has forgiven some school loan debt. The political right is up in arms. The political left is, well, up in arms that the right is up in arms. Especially the Christian flavored right and left.

I confess that I don’t trust our use of scripture when it comes to debates about political policy. I’m not saying it should not be an influence. For Christians, the scriptures must influence policy. But using scripture as a talking point in public debate begins to feel wrongheaded somehow. Public debate in the United States should reflect the broader public political discourse. This discourse is broader than those who claim to follow Christ.

That said, I want to speak directly to my Christian kin on the political and theological right.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

The insistance that these debts are only spiritual or even ontological misses much of how Jesus understood his own ministry. I refer you to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,

 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Let’s try not to read penal substitutionary atonement back into the scriptures. Okay? Jesus was proclaiming actual political and economic change. This would, of course, land him in some hot water. The people of Nazareth would run him out of town for his display. We’ve long resisted the jubilee. We’ve long resisted actual change. We’ve long resisted giving up our privilege so that others might simply live.

So, here we are staring at the debt crisis - and it is a crisis - wondering how we might fix it. Will it be through the individual efforts of each borrower within the confines of the neo-liberal marketplace or will it be through the collective efforts of communities and government? You can imagine what I think.

If we as Christians are to take the Gospel’s claim seriously, then we must advocate for debt relief. We must do so passionately. We must do so consistently. We must do so coherently.

Within Christian circles, we must argue from the standpoint of scripture, tradition, and reason. These are the lenses through which we interpret the social and economic data. Debt relief is a fundamental claim of the Gospel.

Outside of Christian circles, we must appeal to common human decency, an ethos of compassion, love, and restoration of communities. Debt relief would benefit the economy at large. Together we rise.

What President Biden has begun is just that, only a beginning.

Share scripture. Work for change in the broader community of neighbors. Be Christian. Remember that the scriptural references are inside baseball. The implications, however, can guide our work as citizens.

My name is Tripp Hudgins. Thank you for joining me this week on the Lo-Fi Gospel Minute, a five minute podcast about eternity.