We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Jesus and Democracy
Question: I’ve heard that the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues was because he didn’t have the benefit of living in a democracy. Since we do, don’t we have a duty both to God and our country to be involved in politics?
Answer: If the reason Jesus didn’t speak up on political issues was because he didn’t live in a democracy, how do we explain the fact his contemporaries were constantly speaking up and arguing about politics? The fact of the matter is that, while ancient Jews obviously couldn’t vote by casting a ballot, they had plenty of other ways of “voting” if they were interested in trying to alter the political landscape. Some refused to pay taxes. Others sabotaged various Roman endeavors. And still others took up the sword and assassinated Roman solders. These were the very political issues ancient Jews debated so intensely. Yet, neither Jesus nor his disciples (once they got clear on how Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God differed from the kingdom of the world, e.g., Mk 8:27-38; 9:30-37; 10:32-45) showed any interest discussing these options.
On top of this, Jesus had plenty of other ways of affecting politics if this is what he was interested in doing. As he told his disciples, he could have called “twelve legions of angels” to defend himself and defeat his opponents if that is what he was concerned with (Mt 26:53). In fact, at one point in his ministry he had all the authority of the kingdoms of the world offered to him on a silver platter. He could have instantly given the entire world the best version of worldly government imaginable. Yet Jesus rejected this offer as a temptation of the devil (Lk 4:5-7), for the Kingdom Jesus came to usher into this world is not a new and improved – or even “the best imaginable” – version of worldly government.
Clearly, Jesus’ lack of interest in worldly government was not merely due to the unfortunate form of government he happened to be under. Rather, his anti-political stance reflects the radically unique way of Jesus, and, therefore, the radically unique way we who follow him are called to live.
Photo credit: garrettc via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC
Category: General
Tags: Jesus, Kingdom Living, Politics
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Related Reading
Jesus, the Center of Scripture
Paul declared that Jesus was nothing less than the very embodiment of all of God. This distinction of “all of God” is important for us to understand what it means for us to see Jesus and God rightly. Battling proto-gnostic teachers who were apparently presenting Christ alongside other manifestations of God, Paul declares “in Christ…
What is the Kingdom of God (Part 1)
We all know what the Kingdom of God is, right? But this is precisely the problem. Since we are all to a large extent products of our culture, what seems obviously true and right to us will be at least influenced, if not determined, by what seems obviously true and right to our culture. This,…
Sermon: Reframing the Sun
In our clip from this weeks sermon, Greg Boyd talks about how we respond to misfortunes and tragedies depends on how we frame them. In Colossians 3, Paul writes that Christ is all and is in all. When we frame our life within this understanding, we begin to see how we can live through misfortunes…
The Only Starting Point
Sree V. Remella via Compfight Our friend Roger Olson wrote a great article on placing Jesus first when constructing a statement of faith. It might seem like a small thing, but it deeply matters what we place as primary in matters of faith. Let’s always begin with Jesus. From Roger’s blog post: What are we…
The Longing of Advent
The Advent season is a time of anticipating the coming of God, in Christ, a time of turning our imagination toward the revelation of God’s love for us. This after all is the deepest longing of our heart, and our natural longings always point us to something real. We grow hungry only because there’s such…
Let’s Remember
In light of the events in the last few days involving attacks on American diplomats in foreign countries (and the ensuing political conflict), let’s remember one thing: Our fight is not with flesh and blood. As Christians, our real enemy is not Libyans or Egyptians or Muslims or President Obama or Governor Romney. Our enemy…