Congress’ passage of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is un-Christian

The Rev. Kristin Hutson during the Prayers of the People at Edgewater Presbyterian Church. Photo: Gerald Farinas.

Today, the U.S. Senate passed the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, the sweeping package sold as a triumph of fiscal boldness, but beneath the surface, it is a cruel betrayal of the Gospel call to love the least among us.

With its passage, America has made a loud, glittering declaration. The wealth of the few matters more than the survival of the many.

This bill is not beautiful. It is brutal.

Tucked between corporate tax breaks and budget line rearrangements are real human lives.

In it, the working poor losing Medicaid, the elderly facing cuts to home services, disabled folks left with fewer supports, and millions of children whose food assistance now hangs in the balance.

It is a document of numbers and political calculations—but it has forgotten compassion, forgotten mercy, and forgotten Jesus.

In Matthew 25, Jesus does not mince words.

When the Son of Man comes in glory, He separates the nations as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.

And on what basis?

Not church attendance, not doctrine, not party loyalty.

The judgment is rooted in one simple, eternal truth.

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did for me.”

Did you feed the hungry?

Did you give water to the thirsty?

Did you clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the imprisoned, care for the sick?

This bill answers, “No.”

It feeds the wealthy and leaves the hungry begging.

It denies care, strips aid, withholds shelter.

It closes doors to the immigrant and erases responsibility to the incarcerated.

It calls the vulnerable a burden and rewards the powerful with more.

The least of these are not statistical footnotes.

They are the living, breathing body of Christ.

They are the measure by which we will be judged.

This legislation is a national turning point and not toward righteousness.

It is a gospel of greed in patriotic wrapping.

It is austerity for the poor, indulgence for the rich.

It is the kind of law that Isaiah railed against.

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights.” (Isaiah 10:1–2)

We are not called to be comfortable Christians, content with prayers detached from action.

Matthew 25 calls us into radical solidarity.

It demands that our politics reflect our deepest values, not in empty words, but in what we build, whom we serve, and whose needs we prioritize.

The passage of the Big Beautiful Bill is a betrayal of that calling.

And the Church cannot be silent.

Now is the time for prophets to rise.

For pulpits to cry out.

For congregations to mobilize.

For believers to remember that following Christ means standing where He stands, among the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the criminalized, the hungry, the forgotten.

We lament this bill’s passage. But we do not yield to despair.

For Jesus does not retreat in the face of empire.

He turns over tables.

He touches lepers.

He dies with criminals.

And He rises with wounds still visible, a Savior who says, “As you did for the least of these, you did for me.”

This is our mandate.

This is our Gospel.

And no bill, no matter how beautiful, can undo the truth of Christ’s command.

Let those with ears hear.

Let those with courage act.

Let those with faith rise, not for profit, but for the people.