October 19, 2008                                              2008 Election Guide

 

Isaiah 45:1-7

Matthew 22:15-22

 

            I guess there is no escape from politics these days. The airwaves and the media are saturated with political news, ads, and debates. Yards and highways are decorated with candidate signs.

 

            Is it too much to ask for just one hour of relief from all that? Just one hour to sit in church in a politics-free zone, and focus on some other things?

 

            Well, apparently it is too much to ask, at least it is this morning. Just when we’re looking for a break from the relentless bombardment of politics on our lives, we get handed the most political passage in the Bible as our Gospel text.

 

            And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we’ve seen so much of the dark and annoying side of politics that it’s good to get a fresh perspective. Maybe the Gospel has something positive to say to us about elections and how we vote.

 

            In our Gospel, Jesus has a close encounter with the dark and annoying side of politics. An unlikely alliance of political enemies tries to entangle him in a game of gotcha journalism. The Pharisees, a devoutly religious group, join forces with the Herodians, a secular political group aligned with the Roman Empire.

 

            Normally, these two parties have little in common. For the most part, they can’t stand each other. But apparently they are united in their fear or dislike of Jesus. They want to destroy him as a political force.

            So, posing as the media, they design the perfect trap question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

 

            It’s a lose/lose proposition. If Jesus says, yes it is lawful, he will lose the support of the common people, who despise their Roman masters and especially that oppressive Roman tax. The Pharisees are on hand to spread the news that Jesus is a sellout to his people, if this is how he answers.

            If Jesus says, no you don’t have to pay the tax to Rome, that is in an act of open rebellion. The penalty for rebelling against the Roman government was crucifixion. The Herodians are on hand to run to the Roman governor with news of treason if this is how he answers.  

 

            Pick a side, they say. Either way, Jesus is going to lose. His ministry will be finished.

 

 

 

            Jesus asks them for a denarius, which is the amount of the general tax that the vast majority of Jews oppose. You wonder if that’s a debate technique. They spring this on him with no warning; he buys himself a few moments while he tries to figure out a response.

 

            When they bring the coin to him, he asks whose likeness and inscription is on it.

            Caesar, they reply, warily.

 

            “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s,” he says. Next question.

 

            If that isn’t a classic political answer, I’ve never heard one. He answers the question without answering it. And he does it so well that his enemies slink away, defeated.

 

            It’s easy to view this story as a tribute to Jesus’ cleverness, to his great debate skills. But I don’t think that’s really the point of the story. The point is that his response showed the way out of a very difficult dilemma—a dilemma with which we still wrestle today.

 

            We are constantly struggling with the question of where does the Christian faith fit into politics. On the one hand we have the Crusade mentality. The idea that we know what is right, we know what God wants, and since we do, we have a right and even an obligation to impose that on the world.

            Three weeks ago, a group of 33 pastors in 23 states, acting on behalf of the Alliance Defense Fund, took to their pulpits to tell their congregations who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election.

 

            Which is illegal.

 

            They have taken the Pharisee approach which is that church always overrides the state. Illegal or not, you do what you believe to be morally correct, and you are willing to suffer the consequences for it. In our time, the penalty is currently a fine, and if this kind of activity becomes a growing movement, the penalty will be removing tax exempt status from all churches so that we at Salem have to pay a corporate tax rate on all giving that comes in.

           

            On the other hand we have compartmentalization mentality. We have the Herodian approach that basically says that what goes on in church stays in church. We deal here in matters of the individual soul, which has nothing to do with politics or everyday life, for that matter. Once outside the doors of the church, when we’re dealing with practical matters, our religious beliefs don’t apply. We make a clean break between the material world and the spiritual world.

 

            The Pharisees and the Herodians were both wrong, and Jesus pointed out exactly how they were wrong.

 

            First, the Pharisees and the Crusades were wrong to assume that the goal of Christianity is set up a theocracy, where the government is ruled by the church.

           

            Don’t want to recognize the authority of government?   

 

            As Martin Luther argues in his Two Kingdoms approach, government is a gift from God for maintaining order in a sinful world. Government is not them; those bozos, those sleazebags. In a democracy, government is us.  It is how we the people, working together, decide to work out the practical matters of living together in God’s world. It’s how we decide how to get services such as clean water and good roads and protection to the people.

 

            Many of these are practical matters that have nothing to do with our religious beliefs. Being a Christian does not make us any more competent to do them.

 

            If you are having trouble with that concept, look at the reading from Isaiah. Isaiah speaks of Cyrus as God’s anointed. Another word for that is Messiah. Cyrus is the Messiah, the one whose right hand God takes hold of.

 

            Obviously, Cyrus must be a devout follower of God, right? Wrong. Cyrus is a Persian who follows his own religious tradition. Verse 4 says, “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.”

 

            Cyrus is not a believer at all. But in this case, that doesn’t seem to matter to God. Cyrus is the guy who can do what God wants done politically. The one under whose leadership God’s children will prosper. The one who will set the captives free from the tyranny of Babylon.

            Cyrus is capable, he knows what needs to be done, he knows how to get things done, and he has the power to carry out what needs to be done. Even though he is not one of God’s people, Cyrus is the guy who can accomplish what the people need.

 

 

 

            On the other hand, there is such a thing as God’s will, as right and wrong, in government as well as everywhere else. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth’s is the Lord’s and everything in it.” We believe that and that belief effects how we act in governing God’s earth.

 

            We believe there is a moral and spiritual component to governing. That there are things that God calls us to do, and that in our efforts to govern ourselves we must take into account what God calls us to do. We believe that there are things we must do as responsible people in order for this world to be what God intended. When governments are not doing God’s will, we have an obligation to stand up and point that out.

             

            The question that divides Christians is “where do we draw the line between working responsibly for the world God intended and taking over as religious tyrants who think that our relationship with God entitles us to run the world?”

 

            Where is that line? How far do you go? Do I as a pastor have the right to tell a congregation how to vote? Do I have the right to deny anyone communion based on their political beliefs? Do I have a duty to speak up and work for the kind of world that I believe God has in mind for us?

 

            Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees gives us two shining lights the help us find our way out of the dangerous darkness of politics.

 

            First, Jesus shows us the difference between political advocacy and political power. In our adult ed class on the book of Daniel, we saw that Daniel understood his role as a believer living in a secular world. He spoke the truth, and he very ably carried out the governmental tasks that were assigned to him for the good of the community.

            That’s all.

            He saw that what corrupts spiritual people is the desire for power. And so he avoided power politics at all costs.

 

            For a pastor, endorsing any candidate from the pulpit or denying communion for any political reason, is an effort to grab power. The desire for power corrupts; always. Over the centuries, the church has failed most spectacularly in its mission whenever it has sought political power.

 

            Our role as a church is not to seek power, but to speak the truth and carry out the tasks to the best of our ability. What is the truth?   

 

            Research shows that most people vote their pocketbooks or their own interests. The truth is that this simply is not Christian politics.

 

            The truth is this: He has shown you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

            The truth is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. And your neighbor as yourself.

            The truth is this: When you feed and clothe and visit and heal those who need it the most, you do these things to me.

 

            That’s what a Christian carries into the voting booth. It is my business as a pastor to tell you that, because that is the truth. As long as you know that truth, what lever you pull, or what candidate you vote for is not my business. 

 

            As Christians in politics, we speak the truth, and carry out the tasks, and that is all.

 

            Secondly, Jesus shines a light that shows us how to unite rather than divide. The Pharisees and Herodians were special interest groups, who tried to divide the community. Their question was meant to force Jesus into one camp or the other, to separate him from those who disagreed with him.

            It’s the politics of divide and conquer, slash and burn, that we have come to know so well in our time.

 

            Jesus refused to do that. Instead, he gave an answer that brought all parties together under one principle: that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it. That is what holds us together. That is the platform we all stand on. Jesus focused on what unites us, rather than what divides us.

 

            I recently listened to an Iowa State professor talk about 8 Emerging Trends in rural areas and small towns.

 

            Three of them were very disturbing:

            He spoke of a weakening of social institutions. The problem, he said is not so much an erosion of authority but an elimination of those places in our society where people of dissimilar interests can come together.

            He spoke of a decline in civility where we are become less tolerant and respectful or open to other views, which creates huge divisions within communities.

            And he spoke of a growing callousness, indifference, and an interest only in what is good for me rather than what is good for us.

 

            The overall result of these trends is that we are becoming a more distrustful society. We don’t associate with those who have different opinions or interests, we don’t tolerate them, and we don’t respect them. In other words we are losing what it means to be a community.

 

            A dwindling number of churches like Salem are some of the few places left in our communities where people of dissimilar interests and views can come together. Where we can get to know and listen respectfully to people who are not just like us. We can do that because we all agree on the main thing: that God so loved the world that he gave his only son to die so that we may have eternal life.

 

            If the reign of God is to thrive in our land, there have to be gathering places where people of dissimilar interests and ideas can come together, united by the understanding that the earth is the Lord’s and all that is within it.

 

            We here at Salem pledge to be one of those places, we pledge to speak the truth, and to do the work of caring for God’s creation as best we know how.

 

I am Pastor Nate Aaseng, and I approve this message.