When the World Turns Cruel, We Turn to Jesus

In times like these—when cruelty seems to be the strategy of choice in Washington and the Iowa statehouse—we don’t look away. We don’t numb out. We don’t give in to despair.

We double down on Jesus.

Now I’m not talking about the Jesus twisted into a symbol of exclusion or White nationalism. And I’m not talking about the Jesus who gets used as a weapon to silence dissent or shame the vulnerable. We double down on the real Jesus—the one who crossed borders, ate with outcasts, and preached good news that flipped the tables of power.

Right now, immigrant families are being torn apart by inhumane policies at the southern border. LGBTQ+ kids are waking up to headlines that tell them their existence is a political battleground. Laws are being written to erase, exclude, and dehumanize. And while much of this is being done in the name of Christianity, it is a far cry from anything Jesus ever taught.

So what do we do?

We return to the gospel.

We return to the beatitudes that bless the poor and the peacemakers. We return to the parables that unsettle the status quo and center the stranger. We return to the liberating, justice-centered, upside-down way of love that Jesus lived and died for.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis puts it like this:

“Love is fierce. It is not neutral. It takes sides. Love stands against evil. Love says no to hatred. Love resists injustice.”
(Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World)

That kind of love isn't soft or sentimental. It’s hard-won and world-changing. It’s what we’re called to embody as progressive Christians.

So when politicians try to strip rights away, we build longer tables. When fear-based faith gets louder, we sing louder still—songs of liberation and truth. When despair whispers that nothing will ever change, we answer with hope that knows resurrection is real.

This isn’t the time to shrink back. It’s the time to rise up. Not in spite of our faith, but because of it.

Now more than ever, we need to follow Jesus—not the domesticated version we were handed, but the revolutionary one who walks beside the oppressed, who breaks unjust laws, who dares to love in public. 

Because when the world turns cruel, we turn to Jesus. And that changes everything (or at least it should).

Turning & re-turning to Jesus with you,
Pr. Melissa

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