On Christianity And Politics: Palms At His Feet, At His Throat

Jesus' Silence About Political Oppression

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the Christian celebration of Christ's entry into Jerusalem; He entered that great city with a donkey as His steed. Palm branches were laid before Him as a sign of welcome and of His high place in the hearts of those who gathered to see Him. Shouts of "Hosanna!" were heard everywhere. "Save us!"

The irony and sorrow of the scene are well-known: Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, described by some as triumphal, is profoundly misunderstood by everyone around Him. He is not coming to Jerusalem for a political fight; He is not mounting a coup. He is merely mounting a stubborn donkey that will take Him toward the temple mount; He will pray with blood pouring from his brow in the shadow of the Mount of Olives; He will mount a cross that will be set upon a mount of trash. The one thing He will not mount is a protest of the government, nor will He mount an overthrow. His goal is different.

Jesus was born in a captive nation. He was born in the southern reaches of the Roman Empire, in a tiny territory over which a god, a Caesar, a kaiser, presided. The Roman emperor was supreme; and while Rome appears to have tolerated the Jewish love of their one true God, there is no doubt that many Jews did not tolerate the one true god of Rome.

Think about it all for a moment. Here we have -- in Rome -- the seat of the great man/god in the person of Caesar Augustus. Rome had been a Republic, but as Christ came into the world, Rome was becoming an Empire, where the Caesar, the Kaiser, the Tsar, reigned supreme. A man/god sits on the throne in Rome; a God-Man nurses at His Mother's breast in a tiny manger somewhere far away. Israel, the nation of the Chosen People of God, is held captive. The true King is hidden in a cave.

How is it that throughout Jesus' ministry as recorded in the Gospels He says virtually nothing, nothing at all, about living as a captive to the Romans? How is it He never mentions this injustice; how is it that He never talks about the government at all? Once He mentions Caesar: He holds up a coin and asks, "Whose image is on this?" But He never rails against what was clearly the anti-Christ on that coin; He never mentions Him again. There is no talk in Jesus' ministry about this captivity. He is only focused on the captivity of sin, guilt and the fear of death. There is no mention of social injustice; He is not preoccupied at all with subverting the power structure of the street, marketplace, Senate or Sanhedrin; He could care less about the collusion between opportunistic Jews and their Roman occupiers. Jesus is talking "sheep" and "goats" and "lilies" and "vineyards" and "children" and "adultery" and "stones" and "virgins" and "love." He is not talking politics; He is talking about pastoral life while scribbling in the dirt or fishing in the sea. While Rome the Parasite leeches the life-blood from Israel, the real King of the Jews is not raising the alarm about such parasitism; He merely blesses a few loaves of bread, some fish, and He feeds the masses. In His simplicity there is nothing radical or progressive; He is not seated in Rome as a dying idol, He's a shepherd walking about in a living idyll. And when He meets a Roman centurion -- an oppressor with a sword and a god above him, one he obeys immediately -- Jesus blesses the man for his faith; and in that blessing, Jesus, the King of all, says NOTHING about the centurion's sword, his orders or the gods that he serves. Jesus says nothing.

And yet He is the revolutionary.

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Politics Of Rightness, And Left

How is it that I get so caught up in political debate? My gut tells me that I am really not involved in political debate in order to forge policy or to change the power structure of Washington. My debate is entirely about truth: I fight what I believe are lies about what is going on right before my eyes. My fight is not to make America great or Republicans the party of choice. My fight is with those who want to damn others with their propaganda. I have fought here to preserve the human mind; I have fought to protect myself from delusions about 9/11, the Iraq War, climate change, or John Kerry's towering intellect. I have fought to protect what it means to be human, a fully integrated and sexual human, made in the image and beauty of God; and I have kicked at the deceptions proffered about identity, gender, and marriage. I am not arguing for a party or a President. I am arguing for a decent argument about all the things that matter.

But I do turn, too often, to my like-minded political leaders for deliverance. I do this even when I know that no such help can come from these fallible souls.

In the midst of this Holy Week, I think of my Christian brothers and sisters who only seem to be able to see Jesus in political terms. They see Him going about doing good political works; while I believe He did not do a single political act. They believe the gospel is about freeing people from other people; I believe that the gospel is about freeing people from themselves -- for themselves.

When Jesus tells His disciples to feed the poor, His advice is the inverse of what one would expect a Hosanna-leader to say. He does not tell His followers to fight the oppressors so that the poor can be made wealthy. He does not tell them to redress injustices in courts, in the halls of legislation. He tells them, instead, to just stop it in themselves: Just feed the poor and stop expecting others to create an ideal situation in which you can obey my commands. Love your neighbor -- right now! You. You love your neighbor. You feed Him. You help the poor. Just do it. Stop making excuses about governmental corruption, about injustice and unfairness and discrimination. You are the one who is unjust, unfair, corrupt, and discriminating: Stop it, and go and feed my sheep. And stop worrying about what others -- like the Romans -- are doing, or NOT doing. You are the one I am talking to. Go.

The God-Man Jesus, the True Caesar, is remarkably silent when it comes to politics. That is why, in part, He was betrayed into the hands of politicians, and they crucified Him.

He did not save them the way they wanted.

And the Roman Caesar never did either.

Peace.


PS. If Jesus was at all critical of political oppression, it was not of the Roman occupiers, but of those religious who oppressed their own kind. Jesus was quite open about His discontent with the Pharisees; these moral and religious leaders laid heavy burdens on others they themselves would not carry. Sounds quite familiar, really. But the Pharisees were ostensibly on the side of Israel. They were not occupiers, they were not minions of the god-man in Rome. Yet it was these folks that Jesus berated and chided the most: their morality upset Him far more than did the idolatrous Romans' behavior. Why? Why did He seem more intent on freeing people of their obligatory moral duties -- apparent rules for proper living, good works and justice -- than He was in liberating Palestine from the grip of an anti-Christ and his armies?

©Bill Gnade 2007/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.