Right-wing and Left-wing Disciples of Christ
So, I’ve been noticing more and more that Christians are beginning to get a little frenzied towards each other when it comes to political discussions. I hear people on both sides of the spectrum say things like “How can you call yourself a Christian?” when addressing each other about various controversial topics. I am aware that with just 5 days left until election, the tension of faith and politics among Christians is likely to flush a few more faces. I couldn’t help but wonder why we can’t seem to do this without name calling and salvation-doubting.
I began thinking about Christ and if he ever had to deal with this. I started thinking about Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector. Both of these guys were a part of Jesus’ inner 12. The dropped what they were doing and followed Christ. And they could not have been further apart politically.
Tax Collectors worked for the state and made their money by collecting funds on top of what they were required to give to Rome which didn’t make them very popular with the Jewish People. For our purposes here you would probably call them the Leftists because the money they collected throughout the empire led to the creation of roads, aqueducts, waste management, etc. Matthew was a tax collector who began following Jesus and left behind his post.
Simon was a Zealot. Zealot’s were the extreme right of the political spectrum. They were solely bent on getting Rome out of the region. They were militant, they were radical, and they were a little viscious. They were respected among Jewish people though, because they had at their heart the desire for a Free Israel and just wanted to be left alone. Simon was called by Christ and left these practices behind.
But, I imagine that in a group of 12 dudes, the issue of politics would come up around the dinner table, the fire, or walking down the road. I am sure that Simon and Matthew both had different ideas about who Jesus was and what he meant by The Kingdom of God. We see repeatedly through the Scriptures that these guys were sometimes a little earthbound in their views of the coming realm. What I am saying is, that Matthew and Simon probably did not check their politics at the door when they signed up with JC. The fact that a Zealot and a Tax Collector could even coexist inside such a tight group of guys is a testament to the Power and Grace and Love that Jesus brought with Him. Simon advocated killing guys like Matthew, and Matthew would have considered Simon an enemy of the State. But somehow, through Jesus, these guys were able to meet in the middle for the sake of Love.
So, Followers of Christ, I strenuously urge us to open our minds in our discourse with one another. Don’t be like the world when arguing these things. Don’t act like Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken in a fist fight. If you truly disagree with me, I will know that at your heart you want to redeem the world and love the people in it as much as I do. We may disagree, we may never sway each other to the other viewpoint, but we can respect one another.
We have to remember that although we like to call the US a “Christian Nation” the First Amendment negates that by allowing the freedom to worship who we want. Right there, our country’s law violates the Bible we hold dear by being in direct opposition to the First Commandment which states that we should have no other gods but our God. Our political discussions and our politics in general should never outweigh the lives we have been called to live for Christ. He is the one who brings Hope, Change, and Life. Not Barack Obama, not John McCain, not Sarah Palin. It can’t be found in a Proposition written by humans or a program administered by the state or an investment found on Wall street. Let our lives reflect our God, our Christ, so that people would look at us and say, “That’s a better way. Look, they don’t even fight when they talk politics, how do they DO that?”
Let’s be different…are you with me?
