We are coming to the end of a long election season. Honestly, in the United States, it feels like we are in a never ending election cycle these days. As a priest, I've often been criticized for being "too political" and my critics tell me "Jesus was not political." To be clear, I have never been "partisan from the pulpit." I do not endorse candidates from within the walls of the church. To do so is a violation of the Johnson Act and as a Jeffersonian constitutionalist, I believe in the separation of Church and State. However, I do not believe the Church is to be silent on matters of Christian ethics which, inevitably, means being political.
The word politics derives from the Greek words polis (city) and politikos (citizen). It refers to how we organize our public life together and Jesus, following the tradition of the Torah and the Hebrew prophets, had a lot to say about how we organize our public life. His primary concern was the same as God's concern spoken to Moses and the prophets: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5) and "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18b).
Love of God is not complete without love of neighbor. Many of us feel we can separate these two commandments - as if there's an "or" implied. There are many who say they love God, but their actions have no regard for the well-being of their neighbors unless the neighbors literally live next door and look, think, and act like them. Love your neighbor demands far more than that!
The prophet Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord which says that even eunuchs and foreigners who keeps the commandments and observances of God are to be included in the covenant community (56:4-7). The sign of God's covenant people is how they embrace and care for those who are not like them. This ethic is foundational for the teachings of Jesus.
Throughout his ministry, Jesus reached out to Samaritans (hated foreigners) and showed compassion for the hurting and marginalized. Jesus was neighbor focused in obedience to God. He gave us a vision for how to organize our public life together. It was an ethic of loving God by loving neighbor because they are inseparable.
What is really on the ballot in this election is not partisan - it is Christian political ethics. We live in a country that is far too privatized where individualism has become a false, idolatrous god we worship. "What's in it for me?" is the overriding American ethic and it is deeply offensive to God. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we must learn to live together as family or we will perish together as fools. Individualism is not a Christian ethic - care for community is.
As Christians, we cannot shirk what Jesus taught: Love God and love neighbor. Rather than asking "What's in it for me?" each of us needs to ask "What's in it for you?" and by you, I mean people with whom God is concerned:
- Widows and orphans - including the orphans our government has created with the separation of migrant children from their families
- Sick and Disabled - including millions who are suffering from COVID-19 who have fallen ill because of bad policy, those who suffer from lack of economic opportunity and live in fear of losing their health care
- People of Color - who suffer from systemic racism, poverty, and violence
- Women - who suffer sexual and domestic violence at far higher rates than men and whose dignity to make medical decisions is under threat
- Poor - who are often working but not paid a living wage and are blamed by society for being poor
- LGBTQ+ persons - who live in fear of violence and losing hard won rights for dignity
