The Politics of Jesus

Texts: Nehemiah 8.1–12 and Luke 10.1-12

Picture the scene.  The leaders of the people have returned from Exile in Babylon, led by their new Governor, Nehemiah.  For the 70 years that the leaders have been away, the ordinary people have gone about their lives, under the watchful and influential eyes of the Babylonians.  Three or four generations have come and gone.  The people have become disconnected from their past, and from the Law of Moses which their ancestors knew.  They have intermarried with other tribes.  They have taken on Babylonian ways and laws.  No doubt, many have started to worship Babylonian gods as well.  

But now, the leaders are back.  Nehemiah, the Governor is there.  And so are the Levites – the religious leaders, and their High Priest Ezra.  They are all scrubbed and polished and standing on a great platform in front of the crowd.  And they have brought with them the five books of the Law – the Torah.   These books are precious relics.  They tell the story of the first Jews, of Abraham, and Moses and Judah (from whom the Jews for their name).  They also contain the very laws of God, which Moses brought down from the mountain during the long march to freedom.  These books have been edited and polished by the Scribes, during the Exile.  Toiling away during the dark nights in Babylon, they have argued and debated which stories to include, and which to leave out.  They have blended different and sometimes competing narratives into one seemless story, which also contains all that the leaders wanted their newly formed people in Jerusalem to hear.  

Ezra, the High Priest, stands up before the people.  This is his big moment.  Like Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party conference, this is Ezra’s chance to put his stamp on the future.  If he gets this right – he will re-ignite the almost lost Jewish faith, for centuries to come.  He will give back to the people their common story, and their laws for living well as the chosen people of God.  How will the people receive this message – a message which pulls at their ancestral roots, reminds them of their national identity, and puts the former leaders back in power?

Thankfully, for Nehemiah and Ezra, the exercise succeeds.  So much so that when the people hear the laws of Moses being read to them, and interpreted by the Levites, they break into tears.  The account in Nehemiah’s book doesn’t tell us why they cried.  Perhaps it was from joy, at hearing their national story being told to them again.  Perhaps it was for sorrow, for all the ways that they had, often unknowingly, broken the laws of Moses?  Perhaps it was for terror, that their law-breaking would bring God’s wrath down on them again?

The laws of Moses were political laws – they set systems of justice and redress in motion, they legislated for how complaints would be settled, how foreigners and strangers would be received, how land and possessions should be shared – all subject to the heavenly rule that Jesus called ‘the Kingdom of God’.  Jesus sent his followers, 70 of them according to Luke, out into the villages and towns, to declare the advance of the Kingdom – a Kingdom which contained all the holy principles of the Law of Moses, but with a new emphasis on issues such as loving God and neighbour, caring for the poor, forgiving the sinner, refusing to use violence to settle scores.  There was a huge amount of political commentary in Jesus’ teaching, just as there was in Moses’ laws.

People react differently to political speeches, don’t they?  The crowd who heard Nehemiah and Ezra’s passionate, well-prepared speech began to weep, perhaps for sorrow at the political system and spiritual culture they had lost.  For the people who heard from Jesus’ canvassers – those 70 disciples sent out with his message – there was a range of reactions.  Some welcomed the canvassers warmly.  Some hated their message, no doubt because it threatened some aspect of the way they lived.  Those people drove Jesus’ canvassers out of their towns, so that the disciples had to shake the dust from their feet as they left.

You see, political messages, whether specifically linked to a religion or not, often provoke a mixture of reactions.  But first come the questions.  What does this policy or idea mean for me?  Will have more or less money, more or less freedom?  Secondly, we might ask what this or that policy means for those closest to me.  Will my relative get the care they need?  Will my children get the best education?  Then wider questions of society creep in.  Will my local library stay open?  What about the rivers, the environment, the very future for my descendants on the earth?  All these – and many more – complex questions are weighed in our minds, often in just an instant or two.  

Then, the politician seeking to persuade us throws us some motivation to trust their policy.  Ezra did exactly that, by reminding the people of their history, and effectively claiming that his new Government was built on the glories of the past.  Some politicians will blame immigrants, or other foreign governments – just as Ezra did (a little later).  He did it by demanding that all the pure Jews in Jerusalem should divorce any foreign wives and cast them out of the city.  Such politicians make a play for our emotional support, by reminding us of our history, by flying flags and other patriotic tokens behind them as they speak.  Even Jesus wasn’t immune from calling his people to remember the past.  It’s the way politics is done.

So, in this Political Party season, how are we to judge wisely, among the political choices we are offered? When we begin to understand that all our reactions are variable, and related to some very basic, instinctive survival instincts, how shall we sort the wheat from the chaff being thrown our way from the podiums?  They only answer a Christian can give, I would argue, is to only support those policies which can be seen directly reflected in the political manifesto of Jesus Christ.   That means acknowledging, as we must, that Jesus had a spiritual message, but also a profoundly political one too.  G.K. Chesterson once observed that the great pity about the Christian Kingdom was that it has never actually been tried.  And as I've observed before, anyone who doesn't think that Jesus had a political (as well as spiritual) message has clearly not read the same Bible that I read!  

To the politicians who jostle for our vote, the Christian asks, ‘what would society be like if the meek truly inherited the earth?’.  At present, about 90% of the land of the United Kingdom is owned by private landowners, the government, the military, the churches, agriculture and the national parks.  Only about 10% of the nation’s land is available for you and me to build a house upon.  What would it really look like if the meek were to inherit this earth, and if the mighty were cast down from their seats (and yachts, and castles, and private airplanes)?    

To the politicians who jostle for our vote, the Christian asks, ‘what would the world look like if we took seriously the command of God to Adam and Eve, that they should ‘take care of the garden’.

To the politicians who jostle for our vote, the Christian asks, ‘what would our society be like if the poor were truly blessed, if peacemakers were properly honoured, and if the wealth of the nations were equitably shared?’

These are all idealisms of course.  But so is all politics.  The trick is to discern the patterns, to be aware of the mind-games being played on us, and to test all political manifestos against the teaching and experience of the Scriptures.  For as Ezra and his people discovered, there is wisdom there, available to all.  If we would only have ears to hear.  Amen