Recently I have read several articles and heard from many of
my friends about how it is the Christian’s duty to vote for the candidate that
will best represent Christian ideals. It is often suggested that it is a
blessing to live in a nation that is founded on biblical ideals (a debate for
another time), and that we are squandering that blessing by refusing to vote
for the candidate which best embodies those ideals.
While these arguments can be well reasoned, and are written
by well-meaning individuals, they find no support in scripture. In contrast, Christ’s method of changing the
world did not start with legislation, it started with love. The Christ was not born into a powerful
family from a powerful nation in order that he could revolutionize the
political sphere, and thus enact worldwide change. The Christ was born into a
nation in captivity, the bastard son of a carpenter. The Christ did not rise to power to change
laws and protect the interests of the faithful, but instead lowered himself
even further to become the friend of whores and of traitors, even to the
detriment of himself and those who followed him.
It was in this humbling of himself that Christ enacted the
greatest change the world has ever seen. Indeed, is in the lowliness of Christ
that Gospel becomes most potent, for it is in humility and impotence that God
creates change. The message of Christ is
not that the powerful should change the world through legislation. The message
of Christ is that God is already changing the world through the powerless.
If this is true (and I strongly believe that it is), then voting
for a candidate, party, or laws that will protect the interests of Christians
is in direct contrast to the power of the Gospel. Christ tells us that those
who wish to be greatest must become least, and yet the Church in America fights
to maintain its greatness. We vote to maintain our way of living. We struggle
to maintain our voice.
And it is in this struggle that the Church loses hold of the
Gospel.
If the Gospel is that we become the righteousness of God
only through the salvation of Christ, then perhaps we should recall how that
salvation took place.
It was not through an election, by which Jesus took control
of the government. It was not through a violent rebellion, by which Jesus
overthrew the ways of the world and triumphed the ways of God.
No, salvation comes to all humanity when God subjects
himself to humiliation and degradation leading all the way to a cross.
The Christ we claim to follow changed the world by giving up
his voice. The Christ we claim to follow
changed the world by giving up his power as God and becoming death for his
people. The Christ we claim to follow
surrendered his own will (far more perfect and holy than mine) in order that
God’s will could be perfected in his weakness.
But Americans reject weakness. We refuse to give up our
voice. We refuse to allow someone else
to take power without a fight.
Because if we were to give up our power, we might just have
to let God work in us again.
Because if we were to forsake our rights, we might just have
to become slaves to God and his kingdom.
Because if we were to surrender, we might just have to start
trusting God again.
And that would be catastrophic, wouldn’t it?
The Kingdom of God is not compatible with the Kingdom of
Man. My rights as an American are not
compatible with my slavery to God.
I made my vote when I joined with Christ in his death. I
chose a life in which I lower myself in order that God might create change
through me. My faith becomes a
surrendering of my power, and that power includes my right to choose who will
govern, and what laws will be in place.
Instead, the Church should fight injustice in the same way Christ did. By joining in with those who are neglected, mistreated and abused. By loving all people, especially our enemies, and by letting God be the one who transforms the world, not ourselves, our political candidates, or our Bible-based Government (whatever that means).
Voting is an exercise of power. And power is something that,
like Jesus, Christians are called to give up. We must keep in mind the words of
Christ in Matthew 20 –
“Whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must
be your slave. For the Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many.”
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