Role of a Christian in national politics

JESUS SAW THE many sides of the political divide in Israel. Some Jews, called Zealots, were eager to get rid of the Romans, preparing for revolt, despite the overwhelming power of the emperor and his legions.

Some Jews were playing the system for all it was worth as tax collectors or political puppets. Many Jews were anxious to see the coming of the Messiah and were disappointed that Jesus was not a military man, like King David of the Old Testament. The Romans, of course, had their own plans.

The politics of the Holy Land were complicated. Politics is often the hottest news in any country, on just about any day of the week. Who’s up and who’s down. Who’s gaining power and who’s losing. Jesus wanted nothing to do with it. “My kingdom of not of this world.”

Jesus did nothing to re-organise the Jewish society as he found it. He gave his disciples no instructions about how society should be organised. If anything, he left them with the impression that he would return soon: “Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, to stand with confidence when the Son of man comes.”

Christians eventually intuited that Jesus would probably come later rather than sooner, because they realised how long it would take to preach the Gospel “not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.”

In the meantime, it became increasingly obvious why Jesus talked about his disciples being “salt of the earth” and “leaven in the dough”. Both salt and leaven change things, but from inside, not from outside—by dissolving, disappearing and being absorbed.

On one hand, they could not be a “light hidden under a bushel basket”; they had to be present and make their presence felt in society. On the other hand, they had to remind themselves continually: “The hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy duty for God.”

That is why we have a duty to work for justice and peace. Jesus does not want us to organise revolution in any political sense. Instead, a Christian “revolts” by refusing to take part in the violence and the corruption that others find normal.

By all means, organise the nation to struggle for political change in whatever way you think prudent. Just remember that political change accomplishes nothing unless ordinary citizens decide they want to be honest and upright even when there’s no immediate reward for being honest and upright.