We will elect a new president soon and at least half of us won’t like the results.
Neither candidate wields the strength of character to rally anything close to majority support. A few people are truly excited about their candidate, but most of us will vote with one hand and hold our nose with the other. And then we will wake up on November 9 with a new president-elect and a new choice to make.
As Christians, how we respond to our new president will reveal more about our faith and our allegiance to King Jesus than how we voted on Election Day. Our life in Christ asks something from us the political pundits do not. It requires something of us our friends and social media feed do not.
On one occasion during Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees who claimed devotion to the Law of God and the Herodians who were loyal to Rome teamed up to set a trap for Jesus. They asked Him if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not. When Jesus answered the question, He spoke in a context of centuries of Roman occupation. Palestine was an occupied vassal of Rome—a gateway to the east.
Turn back the calendar just 30 years and baby Jesus, the Messiah, was born to a young virgin named Mary in the small village of Bethlehem. Angels sang. Shepherds bowed. Wise men brought gifts. And Herod the Great murdered baby boys because Jesus threatened his power. Jesus’ parents escaped to Egypt with their son, and only returned home to Nazareth after Herod’s death.
Jesus had a cousin named John the Baptist. He preached repentance with an uncommon boldness. Jews and Gentiles alike went out to the wilderness to hear him preach. Even Herod Antipas was impressed with John until the preacher challenge Herod’s decision to marry his brother’s wife. John challenged power. Herod arrested him, and eventually beheaded him.
Rome permitted all kinds of religious practices throughout the empire, but if any of them challenged the omnipotence of Caesar, it was viewed a threat to law and order and was quickly squashed. So when Jesus was asked the question about paying taxes to Caesar, the schemers knew He would be loyal to the Law of God over the Law of Rome, and they also knew that loyalty would trigger the wrath of Rome.
But Jesus did not fall into their trap. Rome was corrupt, pagan, and violent. Rome murdered John and would soon murder Him, yet Jesus answered in a way that dismayed the schemers. He said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:22).
When Jesus was arrested and brought before the Roman governor Pontus Pilate, we see what Jesus meant when He answered that trick question. Despite Pilate’s people-pleasing political correctness, despite his cowardliness, and despite his corruption, Jesus let Pilate have his Roman vassal while He took the world.
The whole thing befuddled even the disciples. Jesus not only had the power to conquer Pilate, He had the power to overthrow the Roman Empire, but He let the ball go by without even swinging. He gave Caesar what Caesar was due so that He could give God what God was due. Pilate wanted peace in Palestine. Jesus came to give peace to the world.
Most Christians in history have not had the opportunity to participate in the democratic process of voting for their leaders. But nearly all Christians in history have had to learn how to live under a governing authority while remaining loyal to God and living for His eternal Kingdom.
Our two Presidential candidates are at best disappointing. They both seem to be rascals—unscrupulous souls that we would not want our kids to emulate. Pilate, Herod, and Caesar were worse than rascals, but Jesus showed us how to honor our leaders as we live for His Kingdom while living in this one. So consider these four ways we can revere the rascal who will soon lead us.
Revere the rascal by speaking with strength and respect.
Jesus is the Word (John 1:1), so His vocabulary is pretty good, but He never used words to abuse or debase Pilate. He rebuked him and spoke startling truth to him, but He always displayed strength under control. Jesus used harsh words, but never to the governing authorities. He saved those for the religious hypocrites who pretended to be loyal to His Father.
Our venomous, bloodthirsty ranting not only undermines our argument, but it demonstrates the weakness of our character.
Revere the rascal by thinking more theologically and less politically.
Politics in America has become an unfortunate mixture of legitimate policy and base entertainment. Important issues such as the sanctity of life, immigration, religious liberty, national security, and fiscal responsibility often get lost. And even as biblical convictions shape our political priorities, we find ourselves more concerned about winning a debate with those who disagree with us than giving ourselves to the redemptive purpose of God.
But Jesus never allowed that to happen. The politics of the Roman government and Jewish Sanhedrin never distorted His view of the Father or distracted Him from His eternal purpose. Even from the cross, Jesus prayed for the redemption of men holding a hammer–men who would never have voted for His candidate. His theology was bigger than his politics because His Kingdom was bigger than Pilates’.
Whenever we allow our politics to hijack our theology, we not only lose sight of God, we lose our purpose of joining God’s great work of redeeming the world.
Revere the rascal by adopting a more realistic view of leadership.
Leadership matters. The right person in the right place and just the right time can change the world for good. And the wrong person in the right place at the right time can change the world for bad. Pilate, Herod, and Caesar were powerful and bad people, but Jesus made it clear that Pilate’s authority did not come from Caesar, but from God (John 19:11).
The apostle Paul wrote that the governing authorities “that exist are instituted by God” (Romans 13:1). No one loves the nations more than God does. So as important as leadership is, every leader, regardless of her competence or character, leads under the sovereign authority of God. Leaders are responsible for their decisions, and will be held accountable for the results, but God governs leaders before leaders ever govern us.
In God we trust means we not only to revere the leaders He establishes, but we see the limitations of our leaders as an opportunity to magnify the perfections of Jesus and the certain hope of the Gospel.
Revere the rascal by submitting with sacrifice and humility.
After Pilate finished questioning Jesus, he turned him over to be beaten and then crucified. Jesus’ death was not quick or painless. It was a grueling process that began with severe beatings, continued with hours of painful humiliation, and ended with Jesus suffocating in His own blood. When the apostle Paul wrote, “everyone must submit to the governing authorities,” he knew what he was asking (Romans 13:1).
Submission is not just an attitude, although it is that. Submission demands more than compliance to an edict. It demands sacrifice, and sacrifice is most often unpleasant. Jesus would not recant, neither did He rebel, but He voluntarily gave Himself up. He could have saved Himself, but instead He sacrificed Himself to crush the head of Satan to set the captives free.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made it a habit to remind those who opposed the governing authorities to do so in a respectful manner, never assuming they were above the consequences of their actions. He said that sometimes we must suffer in order to relieve the suffering of others.
Submission and sacrifice are traveling companions; so revering the rascal does not mean we must agree with our authorities, but it does mean that we are ready and willing to kindly suffer when our opposition to them requires it.
With every Presidential campaign, people are hopeful the nation can hit the reset button. We are hopeful that what is broken can be fixed. We are hopeful that our candidate will become our president and care about the things that are important to us. As things go, however, no president lives up to the expectations of the populace. The band plays “Hail to the Chief” and the office really is oval, but progress is agonizingly slow and often misguided.
So with each election we have a decision to make that is bigger than the vote we cast. It is the decision to revere the rascal we elect—not because our new president is worthy of our reverence, but because the King of all kings is worthy of our trust.