As a follower of the Christ Way, a.k.a. Christian, I am compelled to ask myself this question every election season. Of course, I am also compelled to lift the life and words of Jesus from the pages of the Gospels and apply them to my own time in 2020, which is a dangerous yet necessary task.
We have to remember that Jesus didn’t vote. Voting occurs in
democracies, and first-century Palestine was not a democracy. It was a
theocratical monarchy ruled by a Gentile empire headed by a man who proclaimed
to be the son of that empire’s god. We also need to remember that Jesus was not
a very politically involved man by way of actively resisting that empire. That’s
not to say he didn’t resist it in his own way, especially when he proclaimed
himself to be the Son of God. But his level of activism wasn’t understood by
most of his fellow Jews, or even by some of his own followers (I’m talking
about you, Judas Iscariot). Yet as a follower of the Way Jesus showed us, here
in 2020, I have to ask myself, How would Jesus vote?
Jesus was
often critical of the power systems of his time, especially the religious
authorities. In fact, he didn’t often criticize the king or the emperor, but
rather the systems in which they existed. They were systems that pushed people
to the margins, that oppressed the poor and the weak, that constructed and
sustained divisions separating the “clean” from the “unclean.” Jesus was
criticized for socializing with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other unclean
members of society. He used a Samaritan, one of the most despised ethnic groups
in his time, as the hero of one of his most famous parables. Those parables
often painted the rich and powerful as the villains. He healed lepers by touch,
an act of lunacy in a time when leprosy was the most dreaded disease one could
contract. He was kind to widows and orphans, who were considered nothing in their
society without a husband or father. He fed the masses without asking for
anything in return, and without judgment. He adapted his message to his
audience, speaking intellectually with the educated and colloquially with those
who had little or no learning. He urged his followers to build up their
spiritual capital, and to use their material gain to help others. He wasn’t
afraid to show his temper to those who had turned the temple into a business.
Women were valued members of his community, receiving more status and
recognition than they were accustomed to in their time.
I don’t
believe Jesus would have been a single-issue voter. He was strongly rebuked for
associating with prostitutes. In Jesus’ time, women who had no husband or
family were often cast out onto the streets. To survive, they begged and
prostituted themselves. Abortion was most certainly practiced in the ancient
world, so it’s safe to assume that a prostitute who found herself to be pregnant
would seek an abortion, as giving birth to a child in those circumstances would
have been cruel to the child. Yet the Bible never, ever mentions the act, and
Jesus says nothing about it. Marriage was quite different in Jesus’ time, too.
Women had no property rights, so it didn’t matter whether a couple was legally
married or not. In our day, marriage affirms a couple’s rights to each other’s
property in case one of them dies; it protects the surviving partner from the
greed of the deceased spouse’s surviving relatives. And to claim that same-sex
relationships didn’t exist in Jesus’ time is like claiming the wine they drank
then wasn’t alcoholic. Rubbish! Wine is wine, and love is love. So I highly
doubt Jesus would have voted to ban abortion or same-sex marriage.
If Jesus
were a voter in 2020, I firmly believe that he would vote for candidates and
policies that support the way of being in the world that he taught and modeled:
care for the poor and the oppressed; healing for the sick; the fair
distribution of wealth gained from the labors of the masses; affirming the rights
of women, LGBTQ folk, black and brown people, First Nations, and other margin
dwellers; and welcoming all who seek sanctuary. He would support restorative
justice. He would vote in favor of educational reforms that expand access and
opportunity because he knows God wants everyone to become all that they can be,
for God’s glory and the benefit of all creation. He would vote for a living
minimum wage. He would support and reward philanthropy because he knows “to
whom much is given, much is expected.”
I believe
Jesus would heed the data gathered and interpreted by medical and climate
scientists as true and valid. I think he would support credible journalists’
efforts to report the truth factually and objectively. I believe he would call
out corruption and deceit. I think his heart would be tender toward those who
feel afraid and hard toward those who would cause harm. And I know that he
would not view his nation as the greatest on earth because, in his heavenly
Father’s eyes, there are no nations, only people who are all her beloved
children. (Yes, I did that. Deal with it, patriarchy).
Political
parties are dust in the wind. The Democrats of today are the Republicans of 150
years ago, and vice versa. Parties have come and gone. Democratic Socialist,
Libertarian, Green—they don’t mean anything other than power structures to
raise money and promote agendas. What was Jesus’ agenda? Love. Pure and simple.
Love for God, love for others. Easy to say, but the hardest thing ever in the
world to practice. Why? Because we each and every one of us are selfish pricks.
We’re after our own good because we’ve forgotten that we are all connected,
that we all are created to live in community. “It is not good for the man to be
alone” was not a marriage mandate, but a statement about humanity’s need to
live in community. We. Need. Each. Other. That’s the way God intends it because
that’s what allows God to be among us. Where there are division and dissension
and that insidious “us vs them” mentality, God cannot abide. Our very survival
as a species depends on us recognizing that fact and working to create a
society across the globe—and maybe even someday across the stars—that embodies
that interconnection and interdependence.
So who would Jesus vote for in 2020? I’m not going to speculate. But I’m pretty sure who and what he wouldn’t vote for. And his votes certainly wouldn’t be motivated by greed or fear. This election season, I will try to think like the One whose Way I follow, and I will cast my votes accordingly. How you vote reflects how you think and feel. I urge you to vote for Light and Love, not greed, fear, and darkness.
So, whose way are you following when you cast your votes?
