Why is it that some pious Christians believe that it is insulting for Jesus to be considered a "politician"? If Jesus was really a man, then was it beneath his dignity to sit on a toilet every day, just like the rest of us? Of course not. If he got dirty each day and had to wash his body like the rest of us every day, then what's so difficult about admitting that he was involved in "politics"?
It's a shame that many Christians in America have such a cynical view of politicians that they have a hard time putting "Jesus" in the same sentence with "politician", because politics can and should be a noble profession. Just because Greek word "politics" was never used in the bible, many people completely miss the fact that the bible devotes a tremendous amount of space to the reality behind that word. The only way people can miss that fact is to view "politics" only in terms of the politics of their own time and place. Just because the Bible doesn't use the terminology of U.S. politics (i.e., "Democrats", "Republicans", "Presidents", "Congress", "campaigns", etc.,) doesn't mean the Bible is devoid of politics. It just means that the Bible is about the politics of a different time and place. Anybody who has read the Old Testament can't miss the fact that most of it is about the political history of the Jewish people, its kings, its generals, its judges, its wars, and its legislation. Here, for example, is a foundational text:
{ Exodus 18 : 13-26 }
"The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. When Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, saw all that he was doing for the people, he said , 'What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?' Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because t he people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.'
Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.' So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves."
All the word "politics," really means is simply the way in which the public life of the people ("polis" in Greek) is organized. In some societies, the community's "politics" has been determined by the people themselves ( which made them "democracies" ). In others, their political organization was imposed by other persons or groups ( which made them "monarcies" or "dictatorships" of various types, some benevolent, some not).
Now consider these well-known facts about Jesus:
Didn't Isaiah prophesy in 9:6 "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
Even as Jesus was being born, King Herod was concerned about this baby because he viewed him not just as any "politician", but as one of the most powerful of politicians imaginable, a "king".
During the next 30 years of his life, Jesus doesn't appear to have been involved in politics. But did the Gospel writers consider anything that he did during all of those years significant enough to record them for posterity? No.
Most of the Gospels are about the last three years of his life, and specifically about his teaching and about the drama of his constant battles with those who opposed his teaching. Although most people view these rivals of Jesus as religious leaders of the Jewish people, the fact of the matter is that they were political leaders as well. Although Rome, the center of the Roman Empire, may have been the equivalent of our "federal government" at that time, Rome enlisted the religious hierarchy in the local area to manage most of what we consider "local government". There was no separation of "church and state" in those days. Much as is the case in Iran in our day, the clergy were the political as well as religious of their communities.
That is why the only "police" mentioned in the Gospels are "the temple guard". And the "public places" mentioned most often are the temple and synagogues.
When Jesus was asked whether "people of faith" should pay taxes to the secular government, some people mistakenly interpret Jesus' answer to indicate an intent to keep one's distance from the secular government. But it's clear from the context of this passage that, quite to the contrary, his intent was to teach that people of faith should make room in their lives for both religion and politics.
Matthew 22: 15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, �Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17 Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?� 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, �Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.� And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He *said to them, �Whose likeness and inscription is this?� 21 They said to Him, �Caesar�s.� Then He said to them, �Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar�s; and to God the things that are God�s.� And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.
And what about the Gospel's description of Jesus� triumphal entry into Jerusalem:
John 12: 12-15 reads:
"The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, �Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord � the King of Israel!� Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: �Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey�s colt!�
In John 18:37, when Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice."
When Jesus was killed, it wasn't because of his "spiritual" teaching, but because the "political" consequences of his teaching rubbed the religious/political leaders of his day the wrong way. This point is so important that I devote an entire page to it at LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/whokilledchrist.html.
When Jesus was pressed to explain how the second of his two great commandments needed to be played out, he gave us the great illustration of "the good Samaritan". Now if God will judge us on the basis of how we deal with a single individual who is a victim of injustice, how can any "Christian" imagine that God will not be interested on judgment day with what we have done about masses of people who were the victims of injustice or even misfortune? Whether people are the victims of a cataclysmic natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, or of chronic unemployment, or a handicapping condition, or racial discrimination, why would not God expect us to have much more concern for huge groups of people in need, i.e. social or political entities, than for single needy individuals?
Now as for Jesus being a politically involved leader best described as a "Liberal", see my extensive web site on this very issue at http://LiberalslikeChrist.Org, which begins with this passage, where Jesus lays out at the very beginning of his public life what he feels is his divinely appointed mission:
Here is the way Jesus defined himself :
And Jesus described himself in similar words to his own cousin, John "the Baptist" :
{Matthew 11: 2-5}
" When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
Jesus answered them,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them."
Twice in the Book of Revelation, Jesus is not just called a king, but "the King of kings"
17:14 reads:
"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings."
and Revelation 19:16 reads:
And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
Ever since the so-called "conversion" of the pagan Emperor Constantine, in 312 A.D. however, Christianity has been embraced by the rich and the powerful, and as part of the bargain, Christ's "Good News to the poor" has been twisted to mean that the brokenhearted, the captives and, the downtrodden need to wait for "the next life" for relief. And anyone who tries to insist on what Jesus taught has been made out to be a troublemaker, a "rabble-rouser", a "heretic" or, more recently, a "Communist".
When Hitler wanted to exterminate "God's people" from the face of Europe, if not the whole world, he told the churchmen that politics was none of their business because their business was "the celestial sphere". Sound familiar? Instead of trying to intervene in the mass-murder of millions of innocent human beings and objecting to the immoral wars waged on most of Germany's neighbors, those clergymen listened to Hitler and were careful to "mind their own business", just as the great majority of the Christian clergy had done in similar circumstances in the decade leading up to the second world war in Italy and Spain.
In the meantime, since Hitler couldn't round up and imprison, kill and dispose of 10 million people without millions of helpers, guess where he got those helpers. It wasn't Mars. In Germany, where 99% of the population were "Christians, he got them out of the pews of the Christian churches. According to those "Christians", and many Christians in America today, they were taught by their worthless clergy that it doesn't matter to God what "political party" the faithful support during the week or what policies those parties promote "in the earthly sphere", so long as they go to church and live "in the celestial sphere" on Sunday. To see why America's Christian Conservatives believe that "God's Word" called for slavery, while the "abolitionists" who opposed it were "ungodly", go to http://LiberalslikeChrist.org/biblebeltchristianity.html !
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