Who would Jesus vote for?

That’s a question on my mind as we are confronted with a few intensive weeks of political lobbying. It’s just a little different to that more familiar question, what would Jesus do?!

One thought is that, given his wanderings, it may have been difficult for Jesus to get on to the electoral roll, but we will assume that he is! If he was here today, what would he think?

My impressions are these: Jesus would not be overly concerned about party politics, he would be more concerned about integrity and justice of those who govern. He didn’t launch into any stinging attacks on Roman imperialism, he didn’t protest about giving to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, but neither did he see the political realm as the ultimate authority.

This is important for us to remember. There is greater authority and power in the world than politicians, and that’s God Himself. Every prime minister passes and every dictator finally falls and all are accountable to the God of all. In other words, Jesus relativises political power. He says to Pilate that he would have no power over him except God gave it to him (John 19:11).

Jesus submits to earthly power. He doesn’t resist arrest. He is executed as a political threat to Roman authority – at least that’s the trumped up charge. So on the one hand Jesus submits to it, yet he also rejects its ultimate power. This is the tension we must live with, too. The early disciples submitted to it, yet when called to renounce the very things they stood for, said “we must obey God rather than human beings” (Acts 5:29). There’s a case for passive resistance when politicians exceed their limits or institute policies clearly contrary to God’s ways.

Reports of Christians being jailed and killed for their faith in many parts of the world, remind us that this tension is a life and death matter for many. Let’s remember them and the price they pay.

I think Jesus would also say that government doesn’t take the place of community. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ pushes us back to taking responsibility for the plight of others, and not thinking the government should do it all. The government has taken over many functions that once happened at the grass roots. Families cared for their elderly relatives, the hungry were fed and the homeless housed by the people of God who cared for their neighbour.

While I think we are blessed to have a social welfare net in this country, I wonder if Jesus isn’t also reminding us that true care and true community happens at the person to person level. One of the reasons for greater social alienation today is that we don’t have to care for one another, for the government, or one its departments, will do it.

I think Jesus would also push us back to see that the problem the world faces is not primarily political as personal – it is the sin and evil in human hearts that manifests itself in greed and corruption. As he says, “what comes out of you is what defiles you” (see Mark 7:20-23). So often we naively think that a change of political party will fix things up. It may or may not improve things but will never deal with these on-going human issues.

Well, I haven’t told you who Jesus will vote for. I will leave that for you to decide!
What do you think?