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Who Would Jesus Vote For?
By
Joseph Phillips
My
son saw the caption on the magazine cover. I did not. I was late
for work and headed toward the door. “Daddy,” he
asked. “Who would Jesus vote for?” He then pointed
in the direction of a magazine rack and repeated his question. Apparently
one of the news weeklies had asked the question on its cover.
“I think none of the above,” I answered.
“Well,” he pondered. “If Jesus wouldn’t
vote for any of the candidates, why would you?”
Good question. Clearly my son got his good looks from my side
of the family and his brains from his mother’s. I took a
deep breath before answering him. Children often say the darndest
things and I didn’t want to dampen his intellectual curiosity
by patronizing him with my answer.
Though I am a Christian, I always cringe a bit when some political
party or organization pretends some propriety relationship with God. The
Lord is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. In fact, I am not convinced
that God cares a great deal for politics (and even less for politicians).
In the New Testament the apostle Matthew recounts the time the Pharisees
attempted to trap God with a query about taxes paid to Caesar. Jesus
takes a coin from his questioners and says, “Give to Caesar what
is Caesar’s and give to the Lord what is the Lords.”
I have always understood this scripture to say to us that God recognizes
that men are imperfect and social creatures and must therefore somehow
organize and govern their associations. Governments – that is
moral governments – exist to protect the liberty, lives, and
property of those it governs in order that men may live together in
their imperfectness. So we become political. We vote, we campaign
and often feel a sense of divine appointment in our political institutions
though such sentiments are often misplaced. The message of this story
in scripture is that leaders as well as citizens must remember that
ultimate authority rests with the creator. And he is not concerned
with our political institutions. His primary concern is with the hearts
and souls of the individuals that make up the institutions.
I do not claim to know the mind of God. I suspect anyone making
such claims is engaged in pretense. However, as it happens we do have
a moral and ethical roadmap of sorts that clues us in to the direction
the Lord would like us to walk. I am of the opinion that god is
always on the side of Liberty and Justice and if we as individuals
keep that in mind, trust in his benevolence and mercy, follow his commandments
and offer ourselves as sacrifices to our fellow man as he did for us,
all will go well with us. This was the message of Moses. The
Israelites had wandered 40 years in the desert and when they were at
long last set to enter the Promised Land – their leader cautioned
them to have faith and let that faith guide their behavior and all
will go well.
This message was repeated again by the Prophet Samuel, when the people
of Israel pleaded with Samuel to name a king over them in order that
they might be protected and nurtured. Samuel reminds them of the
words of Moses – that if they but trusted in God and behaved
according to his law all would go well with them.
I concluded my answer to my son by reminding him that we are blessed
to live in a country where we have a say in who will govern us. Our
participation is therefore in my book mandatory. When he comes
of age he must involve himself in the political life. He should weigh
the issues and the candidates against the moral and ethical lessons
provided by God’s roadmap and he must vote. He must also
keep in mind that the men and women we vote for are imperfect and faith
placed in men is faith misplaced.
And, in his daily life it will go better for him if he always casts
a write-in vote for Jesus as his candidate of choice.
Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like A White Boy” available
wherever books are sold.
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