A Christian’s responsibility in politics, especially in a democracy, is to hold leaders accountable to the truth, justice, wisdom, and assistance for the poor.
Jesus certainly held the leaders of his day accountable.
“But woe (judgment is coming) to you Pharisees, because you [self-righteously] tithe mint and rue and every [little] garden herb [tending to all the minutiae], and yet disregard and neglect justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done, without neglecting the others” (Luke 11:42 Amplified Bible).
“You [spiritually] blind guides, who strain out a gnat [consuming yourselves with minuscule matters] and swallow a camel [ignoring and violating God’s precepts]” (Matthew 23:24).
(You can see this scene acted out in “The Chosen” in this interview with the Jesus actor, Jonathan Roumie. https://youtu.be/ijENiyc-CrA?si=gMAYUbnUKGJ7W1ov)
King David wrote in Psalm 72 “Lord, give your justice to the king, so that he will look after the widows and the orphans and the strangers…and so the earth, the whole earth shall be full of his glory.”
“America First”, white supremacy, and racism constitute the antithesis of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus taught us to pray: “May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”…give us (not just me) our daily bread… forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us… lead us not into temptation (we can find it ourselves)…”
Christian≠Republican
Many Christians feel guilty about voting for anyone but a Republican because their Christian grandparents always voted Republican, and their Christian parents always voted Republican, and they have always voted Republican. It’s the Christian tradition. However, God’s Word does not tell us to vote Republican.
Donald Trump has eaten the Republican party.
My friend, Charlie Parslow, recommended this book to me, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It – A New Vision for Faith and Politics in America by Jim Wallis. It’s a surprising and insightful book with many stories of people called to challenge the status quo with the truth about the Way of Jesus and God’s will on earth. (Jim Wallis is founder of Sojourner magazine and community and a leader, along with Tony Campolo, in the Red Letter Christian Movement – giving priority to Jesus’ words.)
As Christians in a democracy, our duty is to compare the character and policies of each candidate with the living Word of Jesus Christ – his life, his actions, his parables, his commandments.
What is important to Jesus? What did he talk about and do?
Jesus said nothing directly about abortion or homosexuality (except for the bit about some eunuchs being born that way). That doesn’t mean these issues are not important, but we are compelled to focus on what was most important to Jesus.
Jesus’ words about caring for the poor are right up there with his words about love, repentance, and forgiveness.
Holy Bible Full of Holes
Jesus emphatically said a lot about helping the poor, the vulnerable, the outcasts, the sinners, the persecuted, the least of these…
Jim Wallis, in his book God’s Politics, describes being among a group of seminary students who realized that none of them had heard a single sermon about the poor in the churches where they grew up.
One of them, obviously a visual learner, took a pair of scissors and cut out all the verses in the Bible that dealt with the rich and the poor and money and justice for the oppressed, etc. This scissor-censored Holy Bible was full of holes. There wasn’t much left of it when it was edited to more closely align with what is being preached. You can read that story in Chapter 4 of his book.
Sadly, Mary’s beautiful Magnificat had to be cut out:
“God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty” (Luke 1:52-53).
Jesus reading in the synagogue from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah couldn’t stay:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour’ (Luke 4:16-19).
Here are a few more of the many passages that were attacked by the scissors to make the Bible more palatable:
The Rich Young Ruler:
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions (Luke 10:21-22).
The Banquet Guests
He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous’ (Luke 14:12-14).
Dressed in Purple
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried… (Luke 16:19-25).
Build Bigger Barns
Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God’” (Luke 12:16-21).
Entrance Exam for Heaven
And, of course, this whole passage of Jesus’ description of the entrance exam for heaven hit the cutting room floor because who wants to hear that?
You Have Done It to Me
When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled in front of him, and he will cull them out, one from another, like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will put the sheep on his right but the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who have been blessed by my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, because I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”
Then the righteous will say to him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you something to eat, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or see you naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?”
The king will answer them, “I tell all of you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.”
Then he will say to those on his left, “Get away from me, you who are accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the Devil and his angels! Here’s why: I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked, and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.”
Then they will reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or as a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t help you?”
Then he will say to them, “I tell all of you with certainty, since you didn’t do it for one of the least important of these, you didn’t do it for me.” These people will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life (Matthew 35:31-46).
It’s interesting that Jesus’ description of the judgment contains no questions about one’s doctrinal statements or sexual morality stances, or the things many Christians fight about. There are no questions about whether one has been successful in ministry or finance. Rather, Jesus says he knows how much we love him (or not) by how we treat those less fortunate than ourselves.
That’s it.
As Jared Byas says in his brilliant book – “Love Matters More.”
Of course, the Apostle Paul said it too in his letter to the church in Corinth (I Corinthians 13).
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”
No presidential candidate is perfect, but which candidate is most in line with Jesus’ values?
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