Jesus was a politician but not the type of politician we think about today. Politicians, Kings, Emperors, dictators, and tyrants all leverage the power they have at their disposal to promote themselves and preserve their own personal paths to political ascendency. Jesus rarely weighed in on political issues except to attack political and economic systems that were already in place, and which were materially and spiritually subjugating the people to The State (Roman authorities or the Sanhedrin and priests in the temple) and who were making themselves their own gods. Remember C. S. Lewis’ admonition that “if your religion is your god, then God is not your religion”. Jesus’ life mission was not political, but he confronted and was a threat to the political order of his day. Earthly political power is an intoxicant like an addictive drug or wealth for its’ own sake. You can never have ENOUGH.
His life mission carried with it political implications, but he never sought earthly power for himself and always placed others interests before his own, not the Modus operandi of a typical politician. His horizon was long term, not an election cycle. His life ended in a political execution because His message and life threatened the status quo of the politicians and authorities.
Aquinas and C. S. Lewis both talked of THE TWO KINGDOMS. One spiritual and the other temporal. We live in both. But our eternal home will be in the former. Here is the key and what I think many leaders—including leaders in my Catholic Church miss this important point. The first should always inform the second., “Your faith should inform every aspect of your life”. Accommodation to a political or economic philosophy that is contrary to Biblical truth and Natural Law Principles that are founded on that truth, is not the way Jesus wanted us to live. There may be times and circumstances when we must be an Esther or a Daniel and wait momentarily in the shadows to reveal ourselves, but we should always keep in our hearts and souls the ultimate truths that transcend time and all circumstances. I think of the many e-mails and home visits, and phone calls I have received from doctors and nurses who had to hold within their hearts their feelings and professional opinions about Covid mitigation and treatment strategies. A nurse and a single mother supporting three children of her own has far more than her own professional opinions to think about should she speak out.
Political influence is spread using the “theory of nodes” Pockets of small groups connected to each other over a wide landscape is how any type of information is discriminated, not by just talking to the same group of people who believe as we do. Think about how the apostles spread the word in the early church. They talked to all people of all ethnicities and faiths. We need each other for support, but we need to graciously spread our beliefs. We should not do like most of us did in high school and sit at the same lunchroom table with our same groups of friends every day. We need to switch tables every now and then and listen. Faction never grows if it talks only to itself.
I believe as I do because my beliefs are based on my faith and life experiences. Other people may believe differently because they have never had the opportunity to experience God’s Grace, and they may have had a very different life than I have been blessed to have. Share the Gem State Patriot with a friend. Listen to Kevin Miller with someone who thinks differently than you. Sit at a different lunch table.
Never be afraid to have your positions challenged. Read and listen and talk. Truth—spiritual and temporal will always reveal itself if given a chance. “As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be….” Truth—temporal or spiritual is a constant.
