What’s the political platform of Jesus?
Would you vote for Jesus? Not the domesticated Jesus of pious, sentimental and insipid overlay. Would you vote for the Jesus who eats with sinners, who criticizes the religious institution and many practices, who considers the orphan and the widow, who welcomes the refugee, the outcast and the marginalized without applying a litmus test to their beliefs, who respects everyone’s dignity?
His platform? The gospel writer Matthew tells us what Jesus said to those who voted for him: I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
His constituents ask: When? When was it that we saw you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick or in prison? The answer: Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.
Don’t miss the strong verbs of the platform of Jesus. Repent. Be. Do. Give. Forgive. Feed. Clothe. Go. Sow. Pray. Heal. Judge not. Fear not. Cast out. Trust.
Many of those introduce moral imperatives of the gospel.
Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Heal the sick. Welcome the stranger. Visit the imprisoned. Sell what you have and give the money to the poor. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. Be reconciled. Take up your cross. Follow me. Lose your life for my sake and you will find it. Make disciples.
His platform probably includes higher taxes ... to set a lot of things right.
The Episcopal Church has ritualized his platform, you may know, in the service for baptism. On page 304 of the Book of Common Prayer, you will find the Baptismal Covenant. It’s what Jesus’s platform would be, were he running for office.
It includes:
■ Resisting evil.
■ Seeing and serving Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.
■ Striving for justice and peace among all people.
■ Respecting the dignity of every human being.
That platform of Jesus elevates the common good and the dignity of every human being above self-interest.
Would you vote for Jesus?
When Episcopal Church presiding bishop Michael Curry preached at the royal wedding in May 2018, many noted how he applied Jesus’ teachings to contemporary social justice issues. Though his sermon was mostly lauded, some said it was “political.”
“Imagine our governments and nations when love is the way,” Curry preached. “When love is the way, then no child would go to bed hungry in this world ever again. When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook. When love is the way, poverty would become history. When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields down by the riverside to study war no more.”
He called that “the Jesus Movement.” After a sermon I preached, not so long ago, someone gently remarked to me on his way out, “Don’t you ever preach about anything but politics?” I said I take my cue from the bible, which is very political.
What if you were faced today with the question of slavery? How few supposedly religious people seemed to understand how totally at odds was slavery to one’s being as a Christian! Why? Vested interests through which gospel imperatives were filtered? Keeping politics and religion separate?
And today? What about how immigrants are treated? Even children. Torn from the arms of their mothers and fathers.
What about our president’s recent demonization of hurricane-devastated Bahamians as “very bad people,” not granting them temporary protected status in our country?
Vested interests keep many Democrats voting democratic and Republicans voting republican, regardless of what may be at stake. Because of our vested interests, political platforms tend to appeal to our selfishness and selfinterest.
What are your vested interests?
What are mine? What creates the static that gets in the way of understanding the political implications of gospel imperatives?