Christians and Politics--Part One

Christians and politics--should we participate?

I'm a politician's wife, so as you can imagine I have a lot to say about politics, but not what you might imagine.  I feel no need to speak about policies or issues.  I have my opinion and others have theirs.  We're free to disagree and that's one of the things that makes America great.

First off, you might not like what I have to say.  That's alright.  Recently it seems most people have strong feelings about politics.  I'm not asking you to change your beliefs--just to listen with an open mind.  (And if you feel like it, add your thoughts to the comments below so that we can start a conversation.)  Today I want to talk about how Christians should participate in the political process--or even if we should participate at all.

This is a huge topic so I'm going to break it into at least two separate posts.

Today I want to discuss whether Christians should even participate in politics?  The political climate is ugly.  Trust me, being married to a politician, I get it!!  Sometimes I wish I could stick my head in the sand and ignore it completely.  But is that the right thing to do?

Let's look at Matthew 22:15-21: Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.  They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him.  "Teacher," they said, "we know how honest you are.  You teach the way of God truthfully.  You are impartial and don't play favorites.  Now tell us what you think about this: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 

But Jesus knew their evil motives.  "You hypocrites!" he said.  "Why are you trying to trap me?  Here, show me the coin used for the tax."  When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, "Whose picture and title are stamped on it?" 

"Caesar's," they replied.

"Well, then," he said, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God."  

Render to Caesar...

Rome ruled Palestine (now Israel) during Jesus's time.  It was a brutal and oppressive time for the Jews.  There was a massacre of all Jewish boys (the reason Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt), idols were placed in Jewish temples, and Jewish people were forced to pay taxes to support a government that oppressed them.

It was a time of great political tension.  In fact, many believed that when "Messiah" came he would free them from their bondage to the Roman government.   That's why the Pharisees thought they could trap Jesus with the question about taxes.  I imagine their reasoning went something like this: Jesus claims to be Messiah.  Messiah will free us from Rome.  So Messiah probably won't support paying taxes.  If Jesus tells people not to pay taxes, he will be arrested.  If you'll notice, Matthew 21:16 says, "They sent some of their disciples, along with supporters of Herod, to meet with him." 

Herod ruled Israel at this time.  That's why the Pharisees brought "supporters of Herod" with them when they questioned Jesus.  It was all a trap.  Refusing to pay taxes would be essentially dropping out of the political process.  It would be an act of rebellion.

As usual, God's ways are not our ways.  To us, if the government is corrupt and oppressive we should not engage in it.  We should not support it.  In fact, maybe we should rebel against it.  But Jesus didn't say that.  Instead he said, "Yes.  Pay your taxes.  Don't rebel.  Support the government that oppresses you with your hard earned money."

Weird, isn't it?  And completely contrary to our human way of thinking.  Jesus told his followers to participate in politics, but he also drew a distinct line between the things of this world and the things of God.

If Jesus told his followers to pay taxes to Caesar, then then answer to whether Christians should participate in politics is easy: Yes. 

How we should participate in politics is a completely different question!  I'll address that in the next post.