BLOG 12/2/15. WOULD ANYONE VOTE FOR JESUS?

BLOG 12/2/15. WOULD ANYONE VOTE FOR JESUS?

A half century ago, before another presidential campaign, the colorful, brilliant, and witty church historian, Martin Marty, wrote something of a crazy and unforgettable article in a national journal about what would happen if, by some weird set of circumstances, in some contemporary post-resurrection appearance, some political interests tried to get Jesus to run for president. In his imagination/fantasy, Marty, with his sense of humor, had the reporters from the national press all over Jesus to know what would be his platform, were he to run, and what might be those things he would challenge in the current scene.

I, frankly, have forgotten the details of the article, except that a couple of things linger with me all these years later. First, when approached as to what his platform would be, his curt response was that he thought he made that platform quite clear when he walked the roads of Palestine, i.e., the content of the New Testament gospels. The other thing that lingers is that he would somehow rebuke his church for spending billions of dollars on buildings and real estate, which was never a part of his calling to them.

This all comes back to me as I watch our current crop of presidential candidates courting different ostensibly Christian constituencies, and presenting themselves to be in harmony with their Christian positions. What is unmistakable is that not only are the candidates not aware of the agenda that Jesus heralded in his earthly ministry, but ‘churches’ have also grown all to deaf to his teaching. Jesus, for one thing, never promised his followers that they would be successful. Quite the opposite: “Blessed are you when men shall revile you, persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” He also, from his very first public proclamation to his prophecy of what would happen when he returned in power at the end of the age, had an affinity for the economically helpless (this when today’s news speaks of the top ten or twelve wealthy persons in this country controlling more wealth that the bottom half of the population—or something to that effect). He would say: “Woe to you rich … blessed are you poor.” He had an affinity for those who were homeless, to the strangers in our midst (refugees?), and to the hungry. And, note: righteousness would be the essential lifestyle of his followers.

Jesus’ primary platform, as recorded in Matthew and Luke, was in his Sermon on the Mount/Sermon on the Plain. There he says that those who are truly blessed would be the peacemakers, those suffering for righteousness’ sake, the merciful, . . . as well as those who deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him. Those who are great in his New Creation community are those who are servants to all, not the self-seeking.

Face it: the Age to Come, the New Creation, the Kingdom of God that Jesus was inaugurating was counter-cultural to the core. The political principalities and powers of the day (the Roman Empire), and the religious principalities and powers of the day (the Temple establishment) were obviously there, … but were not determinative to that radical New Creation that he was inaugurating out of weakness, and from the margins. Jesus’ power was of a whole different genre than that of the powers of the day. Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power by his crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead. And the new order that he was inaugurating was irresistible and would ultimately result in every knee bowing, and every tongue confessing that he was Lord of all, …  and that his counter-cultural New Creation would be all in all—and that it would be composed of the weak, and the foolish, and those humbly born, not of the strong and wise and self-important (or political opportunists).

Question: if Jesus ran for president (or even as chairman of a political party) on such a platform, would anyone vote for him? I suspect that the pundits would tear him to shreds. Could Jesus ever be elected? I doubt it. But such a platform should be the church’s unmistakable agenda, and its message  demonstrated to the world!

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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