- apo·lit·i·cal
- \ˌā-pə-ˈli-ti-kəl\
- Function:
- adjective
1: having no interest or involvement in political affairs ; also : having an aversion to politics or political affairs2: having no political significance
As a little boy it is quite possible that Jesus may have seen smoke rising from a neighboring village not far from his home. Upon the hill, for display purposes, of that burning place there were over 2,000 men crucified in one day by the Roman army.(you can find more in Christ and The Caesars; by Etehelbert Stauffer).
There is no question that Jesus knew what it meant to be under the rule of the oppressor. There is no doubt that Jesus grew up in the midst of poverty, greed and empire-worship. There were no famines to put the blame on for the issues of hunger that existed in Jesus' day.
Jesus did not avert these issues. They are extremely political issues and He most certainly faced them.
What did it take to be able to simply stay alive in those days? What did it take for the "children of God" to be able to live together and yet separate from and within an empire of such dominating force? What did it take for people to pursuit careers in order to feed, clothe and secure their loved ones?
Politics.
You cannot escape that. Politics have existed since the discussion over the apple in the Garden of Eden took place. To simply write Jesus off as "apolitical" for the sake of clearing out debate within church walls, and usually because of the fear of losing "potential tithers", is both historically false and theologically unsound. Christians who avoid the political uneasiness of our day cannot do so by claiming Jesus as being apolitical. It's too late to make it that simple. It's easy to make that mistake but perhaps blindly arrogant to push it.
Be honest -
- What do we American Christians know about Jewish culture 2,000 years ago?
- What do we really know about this incredibly strict religious system that hung over the people as they were overshadowed by the most oppressive empire?
- What do we know about the Roman Empire?
Think about it - How can a King be called apolitical?
Why did Jesus pay his taxes?
There is incredible significance in that.
[refer to the definition provided above again]
Jesus called a couple of tax-collectors[Matthew & Zaccheus] where He took one of them away from their literal work and stuck them into the Kingdom work of delivering the Gospel and with the other He put the Kingdom work right into his literal government job and restored what was corrupt and turned a sinful man into an upright governmental agent that was capable of serving a dark empire as a child of light.
That's awesome. That's the whole salt of the earth thing. Salt is a preserver. We are salt on death. We slow the decay of what sin does to the soul of those that we reach out to and for. We are salt on this earth. We are salt on the governments of corruption and with love we slow the decay that death brings and we introduce life in many places.
Jesus approached Jerusalem on a donkey which was a hard working and peaceful creature. He did not arrive on a war horse ready to lop off heads. He need not approach with instruments of war but only of peace. His presence alone invaded the politics of man with the only truthful political agenda the world will ever be able to abide in.
Read this quote from Dr. Greg Boyd:
Why did Jesus pay his taxes?
There is incredible significance in that.
[refer to the definition provided above again]
Jesus called a couple of tax-collectors[Matthew & Zaccheus] where He took one of them away from their literal work and stuck them into the Kingdom work of delivering the Gospel and with the other He put the Kingdom work right into his literal government job and restored what was corrupt and turned a sinful man into an upright governmental agent that was capable of serving a dark empire as a child of light.
That's awesome. That's the whole salt of the earth thing. Salt is a preserver. We are salt on death. We slow the decay of what sin does to the soul of those that we reach out to and for. We are salt on this earth. We are salt on the governments of corruption and with love we slow the decay that death brings and we introduce life in many places.
Jesus approached Jerusalem on a donkey which was a hard working and peaceful creature. He did not arrive on a war horse ready to lop off heads. He need not approach with instruments of war but only of peace. His presence alone invaded the politics of man with the only truthful political agenda the world will ever be able to abide in.
Read this quote from Dr. Greg Boyd:
"While Jesus never entered the fray of political debates, everything about Jesus’ life revolted against the politics and social norms of his day. It’s why he was crucified. He was involved in what we today would call “non-violent civil disobedience.” In this sense Jesus was a political revolutionary."
To give.
To hope.
To pray. [Are you prepared to pray for whomever becomes our next president?]
To change with influence, love and sacrifice.
To take drastic steps in this restoration process that our King has begun and will complete!
Kingdom-dwellers like Martin Luther King, Jr. had faced opposition from birth until death. He faced opposition at birth because he was black. He faced opposition his whole life until he was murdered because of his political expertise and his willingness to follow a "dangerous unselfishness" that turned the other cheek towards the politics of man but followed the politics of Jesus.
The politics of Jesus? You know, like:
- Love God with all your heart...,
- Love your neighbor.,
- Feed the hungry,
- Clothe the naked,
- Quit pointing the finger at same sex marriages while the divorce rate in the evangelical church climbs higher than any other,
- If the evangelical church world would like to bring the percentage of abortions down than they should stop having them.
It is far too easy to call Jesus apolitical. Those who do simply have found thier own way out of taking responsibility for poverty, greed, war, and injustices. On the first day of an earthly king hearing about another King coming, the earthly king slaughtered babies out of fear and envy. It is the same in so many churched worlds today. When truth invades our self-built kingdoms that have imitated the coolness of the world over the imitation of Christ we are but given a choice to surrender to the King of Love or bow before the throne of death. We all know that Herod did indeed bow before the throne of death.
Jesus - apolitical? The Bible tells us from the moment Jesus was born(while on the run) until He died that He stared in the face of the kingdoms of this world not with a look of destruction but with a proclamation of conquering death that says indeed this Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
How can He be such a King and Lord and be apolitical?
Well, to be apolitical means to avert politics but yet He is King and Lord - so the aversion to politics is where?
The aversion is from those who fear the truth of a dangerous unselfishness.
Search our hearts, O great King. Search our hearts.
2 comments:
I don't know how relevant this is to your post, but I was thinking about this whole idea.
Out of the Twelve, you have a man who once worked for a very corrupt government at the time, and Simon the Zealot, who was dedicated to overthrowing the system.
I'm sure, like now, there was a lot of talk about current events and some heated debates, but what I love is how you don't look at the gospels and see that, and you see Christ being in that world yet totally transcendent and bigger than our arguments and points of view.
Ultimately, what mattered was following Him and believing in who He was and how it affects the way we live our lives, regardless of where we came from.
The observation between Simon and Matthew is excellent and one that I find gorgeous and humbling.
It is easy to call Jesus apolitical from the kingdoms of men perspective but from the Kingdom of God perspective you simply cannot. Only in the West will you find the apolitical approach used and it's only because Christians refuse to address the real problems of our time and choose to build institutionalized buildings with a programs over people mentality.
Post a Comment