Who Will Speak — and Vote — for the Least of These? | Sojourners

Who Will Speak — and Vote — for the Least of These?

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Matthew 25 opens up with a message of preparation and wisdom. Wisdom is the education of people to move into a prudent change for their lives. This change must educate and prepare our people against the tactics that has created voter suppression.

We must remove the veil that separates the least of these and count it not robbery to give them their legal, spiritual, and constitutional right to move beyond acts of mercy, but to build power for social change. As we begin to build prudent bridges, we break the sacred-secular divide and crippling covenants the silence us. We must renounce the manifesto placed upon our communities, schools, neighborhoods that allows the rich to reap where they have not sown. We must embrace our right to vote not only as a civil right, but a Godly right. We can no longer impose predatory measures upon ourselves; we have to remove the cloak of suppression.

We must proclaim to our community that we have a voice. We have a ruach breath that allows us to breathe in freedoms that encourages us step into the voter’s box with our signet ring to stamp our approval on who we believe should reflect and represent our values. We must not lose sight of the fact that it is the least of these who need to hear the truth, who need to be encouraged to move away from those stratagems that try to dismantle the pen from our power to vote, silencing the alarm awakening in us a call to action.

Matthew 25 presents three different parables with three distinct messages. The first message is that of wisdom and foolishness. It demonstrates how preparation is not wasted time. We must arm ourselves with wisdom so that we can be ready. What this means is that civic engagement education does not stop in 2016; it must remain in our communities, our school system, in our homes, and in our congregations to teach on how we must be armed and ready with the wisdom on how to fight and choose our battles. The overarching message is that life goes on, and me must prepared.

In the second parable, we clearly see how power, politics, fear, and oppression work together. The “Master” gives his slaves talents. To one he gave five, another two, and

another one. The first two go out and multiply the talents; the last one, in “fear,” buries his talent. This reveals two things. The first two had a talent to increase, yet the increase was for the master’s advantage and profit, and their situations did not change; they were still slaves. The slave with the one talent responded as most people — in fear, hiding their talent. However, he says something very profound — “I know you reap where you do not sow.” This statement resonates the very cliché’ — the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Politics coerces the disenfranchised through the dominant message that says: “don’t vote, nothing will change,” or, “my vote does not matter.” Thus, we hide our talents rather than building and mobilizing people power to multiply our talents to reap where we have and have not sown. Socially, our vote must divest electoral power that legitimizes the rich and reinvest electoral power into the least of these.

Although the U.S. Constitution was not written with the black vote, the immigrant vote, or female vote in mind, we have the opportunity to sow into historical fights to legitimize our right to vote and move us beyond voter suppression.

Lastly, Jesus tells us when we sow into the least of these, we are sowing into him. Our vote represents the least of these. Matthew 25 ends with a Call to Action to the church, reminding us that we are not to be unprepared, found sleeping or with folded arms. We are not called to support those who do not sow in our communities, to cower or compromise. We are called to interrupt the systems that incite brokenness in our educational system, by serving the marginalized a healthy serving of injustice economically, socially, and spiritually.

We are not to be suppressed; we are to exercise our right to vote. Again, I must ask, who will speak for the least of these? Will it be your vote? Or will it be the folding of your arms while you sleep and slumber in the same oppressive systems that silence the voice of justice causing the rich to sow where they do not reap, or missing an opportunity for change as we must get oil for our lamp to light the way to the polls?