Everybody thinks that God agrees with their politics. If that was true for politically polarized America today, then everything we believe about God — His fairness, justice, mercy, and love would be questionable — a preposterous thought!
I’m looking through Christian “lenses” here. Think about the Jesus Who is described in the four New Testament gospels. Both Republicans and Democrats say they remember Him at Christmas time every year. He’s about peace and goodwill to ALL people.
Can you look with me here on just a few thoughts about the life and work of Jesus Christ? Maybe we can see how much our politics and our practice of religious life mesh with our profession of faith.
The Pro-life God
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. — Matthew 5:21-22
It is easy to think that there is universal agreement that this passage is not talking about death resulting from self-defense — especially when one’s life is being unjustly threatened. Murder is “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another”. Stretch that to include the actions of the insane or even abortion, if you will. That statement which encourages the preservation of life and denouncing the killing of another human being seems to suggest that Jesus is a “pro-lifer”.
Not surprising. Is there anyone who would not expect that the Creator of us all to be pro-life? That is very easy to see, especially when we think that Jesus is the One Who gave His life in order that we (the rest of the world) might save ours. He must be pro-life!
The Pro-Choice God
Equally reasonable too, is the idea that Jesus is also pro-choice! With so much power at His hands when He walked this earth – He turned water into wine, yet did not re-program or robotize the hypocrites to be fine. Instead, He appealed to them in love. Love was the only force Christ used — even when chasing the temple merchants out of the temple. None of them was said to have gotten a bruise.
Jesus reasoned with the unreasonable. He encouraged the stubborn. He never even organized a rally or demonstration against the oppressive Roman government. Yet he fed thousands with a boy’s lunch. Think what an army He could have amassed against oppression and ungodliness! Yet, He spoke to the consciences and left the decision to be on the side of GOOD or along the path of EVIL up to the individual.
I wish the “religious right” and the “godly left” in our world today could be spiritual enough — to be so Christian enough — to be pro-life AND pro-choice as Christ Himself.
The Socialist God
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” — Matthew 19:21
There you go — right in the middle of the Tax Collector’s gospel. Christian America, I am sorry to tell you — your Jesus was socialist. And I don’t believe He has changed (Hebrew 13:8). I don’t think He was kidding with that young man from the Jerusalem Wall Street.
Christ saw a certain challenge for those who possessed much wealth — a spiritual difficulty — and He did not mince words about it.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” — Mark 10:24
Only if you read the Bible carelessly will you believe that Christ was anti-rich. He was not opposed to the acquisition of wealth. We know that from His advice to the rich young ruler. The man’s love of his possessions stood in the way of his spiritual success.
Nicodemus was professionally successful too. [Remember he was the guy who was a member of the Council? He wanted to check out the Teacher but was afraid that the paparazzi might document his association with the lowly Messiah. In order to avoid being seen, he went to see Jesus after dark.] The advice Jesus gave him was not that he should sell his possessions and help the poor but that he must experience conversion – he must be born again. At the end of Jesus’ ministry when Nicodemus had transcended his fear of professing Christ as his Savior, he donated rich embalming material for Jesus’ burial.
The Capitalist God
Theologians say that the parables of Jesus were earthly stories with heavenly meanings or lessons. When Jesus told the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), He chided the recipient of the one talent for not investing it. In this story, Christ gave credence to the practice in a capitalist system of making money by investing.
Jesus also encouraged good money management and responsibility, such as:
- Budgeting and planning are part of proper fiscal responsibility – Luke 14:28-30
- Paying taxes is a citizen’s responsibility to the state – Matthew 17:27
- Good stewardship of personal wealth indicates ability handle spiritual riches – Luke 16:11
When Jesus spoke the parable in Luke 16 about debt forgiveness and faithful money management this seemed to have angered the Pharisees. They were described as “lovers of money” (verse 14). It was not an anti-rich or anti-wealth speech, but Jesus pointed out that love of money together with little value of spiritual riches is associated with various forms of evil — a point clearly stated in 1 Timothy 6:10.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. — 1 Timothy 6:10
The Law and Order God
In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” He was always advocating obedience to the law of God, and He led by example.
Was Jesus being “conservative” here? Well, we may use whatever terminology we choose, but what He meant was that His mission was not to change Old Testament laws as given in the Pentateuch (the 5 books of Moses. Literally, the Torah). Nor had He come to do away with the word of God given by the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. He came to “fulfill” them. And He did – and made them plain!
What we see then is a Jesus who says murder and hate speech are the same thing (see Matthew 5:21-22)
He was not slack on adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus explained that if one lusts, that is a breach of God’s 7th commandment law as well. We could say He magnified the meaning of the law.
And note – the “law” that Jesus spoke about and for which He advocated is the law we see in the Old Testament scriptures. The New Testament was written after Jesus departed.
The Merciful and Forgiving God
In our society today, politicians and public servants need to be perfect — or so it seems. Whether they grabbed or smoked or spoke inappropriately decades before, their opponents are quick to appeal to voters to reject them because they have stains on their character.
But the Jesus Whom Christians are supposed to imitate was seen chatting with a foreigner – a woman of questionable character (see John 4:1-31) at a well. He kept company with characters like Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9) who was a known tax-fraudster and ripoff.
He did not apply the existing Old Testament law to the lady accused of adultery as the hypocritical mob expected Him to do (see John 8:2-11). Being Christian means imitating Christ’s merciful and compassionate attitude towards the poor and the oppressed.
It might even be argued that Jesus was bad for the economy in His day — as would be today. Food merchants would oppose His miraculous food distribution program (see Mark 6:30-44 for the story of feeding more than 5000 people with a morsel).
The whole economic machinery might have been affected by the liberal policies and practices of Jesus. He healed chronic illnesses with a single touch (see Luke 8:40-48) and cured a nobleman’s son by a tele-message (see John 4:46-54) without drugs or medication. Certainly the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry would ban Him from our shores today! He canceled funerals – undertakers would hate Him! Even animal farmers would object to Jesus’ method of exorcism (see Mark 5:1-17). He would certainly be bad for today’s economy! And don’t even mention His shortcuts around our transportation system — He walked on water!
And if one thinks that the Law-upholding Jesus would not have any running with the law, then one should study His manifesto in Luke 4:16-22 to see what He was about. Would our “law and order” Jesus be applauding our prison population?
Let’s Make It Real
Mahatma Gandhi is said to have made this telling statement:
I like your Christ, but not your Christianity
If all of us who call ourselves Christian were to be Christian I believe the rest of the world would be saying, “I like your Christ, teach me your Christianity.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that political persuasions trump the practice of Christianity in many cases. [And I do not advocate the “practice” of Christianity — the followers of Jesus are called to BE Christian. I do not just practice being American. I am American.]
We must stop acting as if those who take opposing views to ours are stupid. The political views propagated by our favorite media channels should not loom over our Christian principles of “loving my neighbor” as Christ loves them.
The example of Christ is the standard principle for the Christian. Christianity is a calling — not just an affiliation with a church — and racial or political fences should never divide the body of Christ. If one takes the name one should play the game — just like the Master designed it.
