Well, the great election day of 2006 has come and gone. The Democrats had a landslide change in the Congress. And one of my dear Republican friends (I am an independent), was very sad yesterday. But I assured him that God is still on the throne. The sun will come up tomorrow!
What some of my good Christian friends need to realize is that there are many good Christians who are Democrats -- and many others how vote Democratic at times. Just look at American history -- one of our most ethical Presidents was Woodrow Wilson, a good Democrat and a good Presbyterian. And his secretary of state, William Jennings Bryan, was three times the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, although he never won. Yet he was also the Vice-Moderator of the national Presbyterian Church. And the list can go on. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy were all church-going Christians. Even Lyndon Baines Johnson, as earthy as he sometimes was, definitely espoused a belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Certainly, more was done for the poor and disenfranchised in his administration than in almost any other.
There is no question about Jimmy Carter's allegiance to Christ. Just look at the good deeds he has done after leaving office. And Bill Clinton, for all the notoriety of his greatly publicized sins, expressed remorse, repented, and is a regular church goer. Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek and Pastor Tony Campolo, author of many wonderful books, both served a spiritual counselors to Clinton and attest to his asking God for forgiveness, as well asking forgiveness from his wife and child.
So we cannot be so judgmental as to think that God is only aligned with one political party, as some would have had us believe during the last few years. Abortion is murder of the unborn and biblically wrong, and gay marriage is decidedly unscriptural, but those are just two issues affecting our country. I hope we can make some progress in other areas, too. May God bless America with healing and hope.
If you want to see the heart of Christ for the poor and the outcasts, read Matthew 25, v. 31-46:"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." NIV
Pastors need to be true prophets and echo this command to help the weak and in need, so clearly stated by the Lord. The greatest work of the prophet was,and is, articulating moral truth. Future telling is a much smaller part of what God calls prophets to do. Just look closely at the prophetic books and you will see this fact.
Interestingly, last December, a debate on Matthew 25 broke out on the floor of the House of Representatives. In debating federal budget cuts in areas that he thought were unduly hurting the poor, U.S. Congressman Rep. Charles Rangel, NY, member of the Congressional Black Caucus, began to list the call of Matthew 25:35-40 to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Rep. Jim Nussle, IA, chair of the House Budget Committee, (and recent loser of the Iowa governor's race), returned to the podium to claim that nowhere in Matthew 25 does it say that the government should help those in need, but rather that individuals alone should take responsibility for helping the least of these that Jesus refers to.
Sometimes we allow our political idealogy to frame how we see the Scriptures, instead of vice versa. In fact, it seems to me that Jesus is very clear about our responsibility to the poor and oppressed, whether it is on a collective or an individual basis, in Matthew 25, when he commands us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners. He also gives us the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 and speaks of love as the Christian's signature attribute in John 15. And there are many other scriptures in the gospels and the epistles, and even back in the Old Testament, that point to Christians working for support of the weak, community responsibility, and social justice.
Look back in the Old Testament, and you will see a set of specific guidelines (laws, not individual charity) for the NATION of Israel to follow in taking care of the those who do not have enough, - - -a command so specific that it instructs that farmers that the corners of fields are not to be reaped so that something will be left for the needy and the landless to eat (in Leviticus. 19:9-10).
But what is really striking in Matthew 25 is when Jesus says in Matthew 25, verse 41, that the king of heaven will say to those at his left hand, "You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire." Best not to be on the left hand side when your treatment of the poor comes before God.
I dearly love America, but sometimes we get the American frontier ideas of individualism, manifest destiny (i.e., empire), and unfettered capitalism mixed up with the Scriptures in such a way that our view gets skewed. But a close look at the Word sees connectionalism, cooperation, collectivism, shared responsibility and unfettered compassion are things the Word really emphasizes. With Christ, love and caring are paramount, and greed and selfishness are not good.
We need to be Matthew 25 Christians. Even before we started voting this week, Newsweek had a story called "A New Faith-Based Agenda". The latter is authored by Michael Gerson, a former Bush administration speechwriter, who wrote eloquently, "The goal is not only to stand for Christianity's moral teachings, but to emulate the manner of its Founder, who showed that kindness is not weakness, and had more tenderness for moral outcasts than for moral hypocrites."
Amen, Amen!
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