The Failure of Politics and the Triumph of the Kingdom

This morning I saw this on Twitter, quoting one of the best preachers of our time and a Methodist Bishop, Will Willimon: Pontius Pilate is in the Creed to remind us of the great danger of the political enterprise. #governmentshutdown

Isn’t it strange that when the bishops of the Church first wrote the Nicene Creed in the early 4^th century, it mattered to them under whose political leadership our Lord Jesus Christ was executed?  Does it still matter, nearly two millennia later?  Yes, because human beings are no less political now than they were 2,000 years ago, and 2,000 years before that.  And in truth, it was a series of political decisions that led to Jesus, who preached the kingdom of God more than anything else, being nailed to a wooden cross.

The priests wanted Jesus dead.  He had made it clear that their Temple, and all the animal sacrifices they performed  in it, were worthless.  The Pharisees wanted Jesus dead.  As fellow reformers, they might have sympathized with Jesus.  But as far as he was concerned, the Pharisees were hypocrites whose high ideals were too high for anyone else to reach.  The Zealots wanted Jesus dead.  They dreamed of a violent revolution against Roman rule.  And a Jewish messiah who said that those who lived by the sword would die by the sword was not good for morale.

Finally there was the one man who actually had the power to spare Jesus or execute him, the man whose name we repeat every Sunday, Pontius Pilate, the imperial Governor of Judea by appointment of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Tiberius. 

He probably didn't care about the religious dispute that had brought this man before him.  And perhaps he didn't feel threatened by this King of the Jews.  But if a riot got started because of this man, and word got back to Rome, Pilate would not want to face the wrath of Tiberius.  And perhaps he recognized how subversive Jesus' kingdom really was of all those human kingdoms created through bribery, violence, or the mob.  Either way, he decided that it was in his political interest that Jesus die.

It was quite a coalition that came together for just one day to murder Jesus.  All these factions and parties had fought each other on Thursday, and they would be back at each other’s throats on Saturday.  But on Friday, they were all united on one platform: “Take him away!  Take him away!  Crucify him!”

 I think that is why the Church believed that we should always remember under whose political authority our one true Lord was executed.  We must always beware the confusion of Jesus’ kingdom with the human kingdoms of this world.  For that, as Willimon tweeted, is the “great danger of the political enterprise.”

In the years before hearing the call to serve in the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ, my working life was the political enterprise, the cause, the pursuit of political power.  And I saw that enterprise usually end up in one of two ways: a desperate adherence to one’s cause that justified any means to win; or a creeping cynicism in which nothing mattered but the pursuit of power, and the fame and wealth that went with it.  Even among those who avoided those extremes, there was the bitterness when one’s best efforts for justice and freedom fell victim to an election that didn’t go their way, or to the legislative maneuverings of their enemies.

That is why my first political allegiance is not to a political party, but to a king and a kingdom, whose head is Jesus Christ.  I appreciate that there are good and faithful Christians who read the Gospels, and apply Jesus’ teachings to the important public questions of our day.  And I would be dishonest if I claimed to have no opinions on those issues.  But I confess that they are my opinions, as valid as yours.  If my opinion matters to you, then feel free to ask.

My life experience and grounding in the Word of God do lead me to say this very clearly.  No political party has a monopoly on virtue or the truth.  There is no such thing as a “Christian” party.  There are good and faithful Christians who are more sympathetic to the Democratic party.  There are good and faithful Christians who are more sympathetic to the Republican party.  There are good and faithful Christians who consider themselves independents.

I pray that God’s justice will sprout from all the efforts of those who are firm in the right as God gives them to see the right.  That is how the kingdom of God comes into the world.  “Then Jesus said, ‘This is what God’s kingdom is like.  It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground, then sleeps and wakes night and day.  The seed sprouts and grows, but the farmer doesn’t know how.  The earth produces crops all by itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full head of grain” (Mark 4:26-28).

The kingdom of God will emerge from our struggles, I trust.  Perhaps it will begin to emerge when we all, Democrats and Republicans, listen to each other more than shout at each other.  Perhaps it will emerge when we all, Democrats and Republicans, think first of what we are prepared to give, rather than take.  Perhaps it will emerge when we all, Democrats and Republicans, consider first where we might be wrong, rather than where we must be right.