I
was standing in line with my parents and my grandmother at K&W one day, I
think it was a year or so after graduating from seminary. We started talking politics – the Iraq War
was the news of the day and I was in the process of becoming more politically
aware. At the time, I was in a
particularly cynical place about politicians and I was telling my Republican
father and my Democratic grandmother that both parties were to blame for what
was happening. This position, I’ll
admit, has really not softened or changed in the intervening years.
In
the midst of the conversation, an elderly woman approached me aggressively and
almost yelled: “Democrats have always been for poor people! Study your history!” You know, it was the tone that surprised
me. I’ve been yelled at by Republicans,
as well. I was even told once that
"you can't be a Christian and a Democrat." Politics tends to have that effect on us from
time to time. You stake a position and
you’re bound to meet somebody who has planted their flag on the other side of
the hill. Tempers flare. Your blood pressure rises. You feel that sharp edge of anger and
righteous indignation. Some people might
express it in a smug condescension. Some
people might lash out when confronted with a different philosophy. You might make it your mission to change this
person’s mind, to convince them of the common sense of your position. Or you might yell at perfect strangers in
line at the K&W.
Politics
is a risky proposition. Though, it’s not
all bad. In the best of circumstances,
it gets things done, brings people together, and brings order to a society. It comes from the Greek word pertaining to
citizens and ordering the affairs of the state.
But, as we know full well, it can get people in trouble. It breaks up friendships and splits churches
and divides communities and sets brother against brother. It leads to violence and even murder,
starting arguments and fights and wars.
I’d love to stay away. To leave it at the door of the church and to
ask churchgoers to do the same. I
firmly believe in the separation of church and state. It’s not my job to tell the congregation who
to vote for and it’s none of their business who I vote for. It’s my job to tell people to follow Jesus. That’s where you find salvation and hope and
life and justice – it ain’t in Washington or Raleigh.
But (and isn’t there always a “but”?), Jesus was political. Oh, not in the partisan way we’ve grown
familiar with. There’s enough there in
his teachings to make Republicans and Democrats mad in equal measure. Independents, too, so don’t think you’re off
the hook. If you’re so inclined, you can
find verses to support your own political position. But you can count on finding other verses
that you’ll probably want to ignore.
Jesus wasn't interested in giving Rome or Jerusalem advice about how to
run their respective governments. Jesus
didn't seem too terribly interested in reforming the current order, but rather,
in announcing an
entirely new order - the Kingdom of God.
The reality of the Kingdom of God takes
precedence over any other kingdom or entity or power that we might pledge our
allegiance to. The Kingdom of God
supplants, overthrows, renders obsolete all other kingdoms. And we don’t have the luxury of deciding
which elements of the Kingdom we can dispense with. We can't decide that we like the personal holiness
and salvation parts and get rid of the parts which challenge our greed and
disregard for the poor. Jesus really
means what he says in those verses that we want to ignore or explain away. Following Jesus, living in the reality of
God's Kingdom present hear and now means that the political positions and
ideologies that are thrust upon us are not the ultimate grounds for our
identities. And if you turn on Fox News
or MSNBC or CNN and you see your enemy, remember what Jesus taught you. If you follow Jesus, call yourself
"Christian", remember that you are held to a higher standard - the
standard of grace, peace, and love.
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