Jesus no "politician"

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 a 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 legistlation. 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).
Even before Jesus was born, King Herod was concerned about this baby because he viewed him not just as a "politician", but as one of the most powerful of politicians imaginable, a "king". To be sure, during most of his life, some 30 years, Jesus stayed out of politics. But from the moment he went public, to the moment of his death, Jesus spent most of his time either debating public officials who were not only the religious leaders of the Jewish people, but their political leaders as well. Although Rome was the equivalent of the "Federal Government" at the time, they enlisted the religious hiearchy to manage most of the "Local Government".
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?

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". And they listened to Hitler and were careful to "mind their own business".
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. It was in Germany, where 99% of the population were "Christians". And so he got them out of the pews of the Christian churches. According to those "Christians", and many Christians in America today, they don't think that Jesus cares what "political party" his followers 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 and the "abolitionists" who opposed it then and would oppose it now are "ungodly", go to http://JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/about/BibleBeltChristianity.html !

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