Election 2016
What Would Jesus have Us Think, Believe and Vote?
August 29, 2016
Jeff Lampl
Jeff Lampl
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap (Jesus)
in his words. They sent their disciples
to him along with the Herodians.
"Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man
of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it
right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You
hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?
Show me the coin used for paying the tax."
They brought him a denarius,
and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose
inscription?" "Caesar's,"
they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and
to God what is God's."
When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and
went away.
Matthew 22:15-22 (NIV)
In the above passage the Pharisees (Israel’s ‘Tea Party’) teamed up with the
Herodians (Israel’s party of compromisers) to bait Jesus into making a
mistake. If Jesus had agreed that paying
taxes to Caesar (who claimed to be a deity) was a correct thing to do, he would
be accused by the Jews of blasphemy. If
he had said he was against paying taxes he would be accused by the Romans of
subversion.
How does that
help as we go to the polls in November?
First, it seems
that Jesus would tell us that a good citizen of Heaven is also a good citizen
of earth. Christians are not separatists. Believers are to be a blessing to others and
that includes participation in society.
Taxes, though frequently wasted and misused, support the functioning of
a flourishing society.
Second, Jesus
didn’t answer in black and white, with a yes or a no. Christians live in a world where we must
learn to adhere to the teachings of God and Jesus Christ in less than perfect
ways. Rather than trying to ask
ourselves WWJD (What would Jesus do) we must learn to ask ourselves, “What
would Jesus have us do” given the
realities of our circumstances. Life is
much more gray than black and white. That
requires applying John 16:15 and Matthew 10:16 to our decision
making.
Notice that
Jesus could have said, “Wait a minute, I’m Lord not Caesar. Follow me above all else” (the party of the
Zealots would have been all in on that).
Jesus did not elevate Himself or take sides. It’s almost as if Jesus is affirming our
constitution’s establishment clause which forbids the establishment of any one religion
as a state religion for our nation. He
must have known how badly Christianity would fare when it found itself in the corridors
of power in the coming millennia. We
Christians must remember Jesus ‘consistent teaching that our job is not to
rule, but to serve.
Finally,
further on this same chapter of Matt 22, Jesus gave us the summary of the
entirety of the teaching of the Bible
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39
As we prepare for the November elections we would do well to ask
ourselves what Christian value do we want our new leaders to pursue? What is the Jesus Lens? Is it capitalism, or socialism, or democracy,
or TPP, or Protectionism, or Interventionism, or . . . . ? Jesus gave us none of those, rather he gave
us the value of Love. In short the Christian
value is that I love God more than my country and I love others more than
myself.
Question: How can I
allow this “Jesus Creed” to overlay my thinking about who I vote for and how I
think about all the issues that our country faces?
“Lord help me to think, see, act, believe, and
hope all through the Lens of the’ Jesus Creed’, the Great Commandment of loving
you and loving others. May I approach my
participation in society not through the lens of republican or democrat or
independent or ethnicity or self-interest rather through the lens of Jesus.” Amen
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