IF YOU THINK JESUS WASN'T POLITICAL, THEN YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BIBLE

I recycled my post about Republican Christians a couple of days ago on facebook and it spawned a very nice little discussion.  Here's a bit of an exchange with an old school chum who is now a chaplain in the US Army:

Bill Bottom line, Jesus did NOT drag politics into His life and ministry. Try and keep that in mind during this discussion. Many of you can't stand it when politicians intertwine their political views and religion so I encourage you all to do the same. To call Jesus "progressive" is quite comical. He is God, plain and simple. He came to ultimately fulfill the Law...He did (without sin), and glorified Himself in the process. All authority is His, no one else's. Whether we like it or not, sometimes it's is quite okay and Christian to say "no" to someone or stand for the truth or what is right. Jesus did NOT heal everyone. He did NOT feed everyone. He did not eliminate all sickness. He came to provide eternal life, and not through a political platform. If He wanted to get all political, He would have hung out with the political leaders, the religious leaders, etc. He didn't...He showed His power through the weakest and most insignificant people...what an amazing God...the only true God...Jesus!!!

My response:

Ron Ah, finally, something on which we must disagree!

Jesus was EXTRAORDINARILY political. I mean, certainly not in the way that most Americans understand it. He didn't talk about "political issues" or support particular leaders. Indeed, he was downright what we would today call non-partisan--he didn't favor the Romans over the Jewish hierarchy and vice versa. But he was nonetheless downright politically subversive. Especially in a cultural context, Hellenistic Judea, where there was virtually no line between religion and politics. Consequently, to talk about religion, and especially to part radically from the conventional wisdom, was NECESSARILY political. And Jesus did, indeed, talk about religion, all the time, always.

You're telling me that "render unto Caesar" isn't political? That to portray a despised Samaritan as having superior morals and ethics isn't political? That to tell a rich man that the only way he could go to Heaven is to sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and to follow Him isn't political? That saving the adulteress isn't political? I mean, all these ideas, anti-racism, the corrupting influence of wealth, tearing down patriarchal attitudes that are destructive to women, are DEFINITELY considered political in today's context. How could they not be political in the New Testament context?

Further, even though Jesus did not heal everyone, he did heal. He healed a lot, in fact, so much so that he was known as a healer. Followers of Jesus today who do not heal, or, at least, do what they can to see that people are healed, are NOT being Christlike. No, Jesus did not feed everyone, but he did feed people, and it's the same thing with this: His followers MUST see that people are fed, or they are choosing a path that is different from the example set by their Lord.

Jesus was, in fact, one of the most political figures in the history of humanity. He was a radical. He moved masses to value and prioritize ideas and actions that were not only ignored by the ruling establishment, but that also stood in the way of how the establishment wanted society run. This was why they killed him. He was a very real, and very earthly, threat to the ruling elite. I think that many Christians today have become so focused on the salvation concept that they forget what a profound difference Jesus made during his time as a man.

And that saddens me.

Actually, in reference to how I've titled this, Bill has definitely read the Bible.  It's just that I think he's refusing to recognize as political stuff in the Bible that is not expressed in a way that many Americans would recognize today as being political, even though it is.  That is, lots of the country doesn't recognize the concept of politics unless it expressly includes politicians, candidates, and political offices, you know, Sunday morning talk show stuff.  So maybe it's that Bill doesn't understand politics, at least, in terms of political ideas that contemporary politicians don't talk about.  Or something to that effect.

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