Jesus stayed out of politics and so should his church

Jesus of Nazareth was a victim of politics.

Here are the facts:

He stood trial before a provincial political body that heard political charges against him.

He then stood trial before an imperial politician who heard the same political charges. When that politician hesitated to condemn Jesus, the provincial leaders found a way to push a political hot button that fired up a mass political demonstration. The imperial politician gave in to the political threats from the mob and provincial leaders and signed the execution order.

The imperial government executed Jesus of Nazareth for political crimes (insurrection and/or treason).

What some accounts mention is that political enemies conspired together to bring about Jesus’s execution.

The imperial politicians had contempt for the provincial politicians.

The provincial politicians hated and resented the imperial politicians.

Two parties dominated the provincial politicians and those parties hated each other. One party (the Sadducees) favored cooperation with the Empire for the good of the economy and national security. The other party (Pharisees) favored resistance to the Empire and saw the Sadducees as sell-outs. These two parties fought bitterly.

The one thing that brought all of these fighting, hating, loathing politicians together as allies was Jesus of Nazareth.

The could all agree on one thing: Jesus of Nazareth must die.

Why?

What about Jesus of Nazareth could unite such bitter enemies?

I used to think it was the fact that Jesus was, at times, critical of the politicians.

This may be confusing to some people who are familiar with the Jesus story.

“Wasn’t he critical of the religious leaders? I don’t recall him being critical of the politicians.”

To answer your question: In the place and time where Jesus lived, the religious leaders were also the political leaders. The people in that place and time saw political and religious leadership as one and the same.

Remember: The Law of Moses (about which Jesus spoke often) was also to be the law of the land. What we often think of as religious law (because it is in our Bible) is what people in Jesus’s time thought of as political law.

So, when Jesus commented on religion in his time, he was at the same time commenting on politics. When he critiqued the religious leaders of his time, he was at the same time critiquing the politicians.

So, I used to think that it was Jesus’s commentary on politics and critique of politicians that led to his execution.

But there are two reasons I don’t believe that anymore.

The first is that commentary and criticism are just part of life for politicians. When you take on the role of being a public figure with the power to make decisions that affect large numbers of people, you will be subject to their criticism. When you are a politician, accusations, complaints, insults, and threats are just part of your life.

No politician is surprised when people–very often a lot of people–not only say ugly things about him, they work to get rid of him!

For example: People who lined up with the Pharisees couldn’t stand the Sadducees. They dreamed of the day when they could kick the Sadducees out of power forever. If you were a Sadducee, you knew how Pharisees felt about you and you learned to live with it. If a Pharisee said mean or ugly things about you, you would shrug your shoulders and say: “Of course he said that. He’s a Pharisee!”

Politicians have enemies. Lots of them. It’s party of being a politician.

So, why would the politicians of Jesus’s day be so upset if Jesus criticized them? He was just one more critic among many. Do you think that Jesus of Nazareth was the first charismatic influencer to come along and find fault with the politicians?

In fact, we know from history that he was not. At that time, many charismatic influencers rose up and led large groups of people to protest the politicians of the day. Jesus of Nazareth was not the first.

So, I do not believe that the politicians of Jesus’s day wanted him dead because he criticized them. If a politician tried to put every critic to death, he would soon rule a nation of just one (himself).

The second reason I don’t believe that Jesus’s criticism of the politicians led to his execution is the arguments his opponents tried to start with him.

The Gospels report that the politicians tried over and over to “trap Jesus.” This meant they got him in front of a crowd and tried to corner him with a question that could get him into trouble.

This method should be familiar to anyone who watches cable news.

It is important for you to note that when the politicians (religious leaders) tried to “trap Jesus,” it was always in front of a crowd.

Why?

Obviously, if they cared about Jesus and felt like he needed correction or guidance, they would meet with him in private. They would gently try to reason with him.

But the Gospels record the politicians (religious leaders) coming at Jesus in public. In the polis (“city”–the root word for politics). Why would you challenge someone in front of a crowd if not to sway the crowd one way or another? Is this not what politicians do?

It is a mistake for modern readers to think that the people challenging Jesus want a religious conversation for the illumination of the people.

No, this is all about power. The power of the crowd.

That is, who will control the crowd? The politicians or Jesus of Nazareth?

Now, this is where you need to pay close attention.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying: “To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

To politician, every situation looks political.

So, to the politicians who challenged Jesus in public, they saw a political opportunity. That is, they saw an opportunity to gain political influence or leverage over a crowd. The crowd is where politicians get their power.

Jesus attracted big crowds wherever he want. Those crowds looked like opportunity to the politicians. How could they win over those crowds?

But here’s the other point I want you to see: If the politicians (religious leaders) saw the crowds as opportunity to increase their own political power, they saw Jesus himself as a politician. Of course they did! “To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” To a politician, every person appears to be a political opponent or political opportunity.

So, to the politicians (religious leaders), Jesus looked like a political opponent and the crowds that followed him looked like a political opportunity.

So, those politicians pulled out their political playbooks to find a way to make the most of the moment.

How do politicians win over crowds?

They discredit their political opponents. They make them look bad. They make them look like the enemy.

Again, modern readers think of the questions that the politicians asked Jesus as religious or spiritual questions. We think those politicians are trying to have a philosophical conversation.

But we need to see that the politicians are trying to engage Jesus is a political contest. They are trying to trap Jesus in a way that helps them win over the crowd (thus increasing or maintaining their hold on political power).

If you look at the questions that the politicians asked Jesus, you will start to see what they are trying to do.

For reference, read the Gospel of Matthew 22:15-33.

This episode in the Gospel of Matthew is dripping with politics.

First of all, it took place in Jerusalem, the political and religious capital of Judaism. When this exchange happened, Jesus was actually sitting in the seat of political and religious power for the Jewish people. It took place just hours after he rode into Jerusalem with the people shouting the equivalent of “Long live the King!”

When the politicians came to challenge Jesus, he was facing his greatest opportunity (temptation) to use political power since the devil offered him the kingdoms of the world (Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11).

The politicians knew that Jesus had such great influence over the people that, if he just said the word, they would take up arms to make him king.

So, like any good politicians, they sought to make the most of the moment.

The Pharisees were the first party to try to trap Jesus. They came at him with one of their favorite political “hot buttons”: Taxes. They asked: Should we pay taxes to the Emperor?

This was a classical political move. It’s like asking an American politician today whether he is pro-choice or pro-life. By answering the question, the politician immediately identifies himself as being in one party or the other. And, in doing so, he immediately reveals which side he is on. Once he “picks a side,” the public immediately divides into either political friends or bitter political enemies.

The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to “pick a side.” If he came out in favor of paying taxes to the Emperor, he would show himself to be in alignment with the Sadducees. An elitist. A sell-out. Those in the crowd who hated the Sadducees would immediately say that Jesus of Nazareth is a Sadducee and write him off. The Pharisees would gain control over that part of the crowd.

They would also know that Jesus was not on their side. This would make it easier to mobilize people who “leaned Pharisee” against him.

But if Jesus said that the people should not pay taxes to the Emperor, he would be in hot water with the government that said it was the law. His position on taxes would help the Pharisees. It would make their position more popular while Jesus himself took all the heat for speaking out against the law.

Later, the Sadducees took their turn. They asked Jesus about the resurrection of the dead. This also seems to us to be a religious question, but it was asked to be a political “litmus test.” If Jesus answered in a way that favored the Sadducees’ position on the issue, he would alienate the people who favored the Pharisees’ position.

To summarize: The questions that each political party asked Jesus were a lot like the questions we ask in politics today. They designed their questions to get Jesus to “pick a side.”

In politics, once you know which side someone is on, you know how to deal with them. They become a “known quantity,” predictable, even useful.

Think about it: How many people voted for Donald Trump in 2016 because Republicans were able to make use of Hillary Clinton’s partisan political record against her? How many people voted for Joe Biden in 2020 because Democrats were able to make use of Donald Trump’s partisan political record against him?

A politician who wants to increase his own power while taking down someone else’s power just needs to get that person to pick a side.

And that’s what the politicians were doing with Jesus. They were trying to get him to pick a side in public.

Jesus foiled their plans by not only answering their questions wisely, but by wisely not picking a side. By the end of his exchanges with the Pharisees and Sadducees, neither party could say that he belonged to one or the other. Neither party could say that he was a friend. Neither party could say that he was a familiar and predictable opponent.

This is why they all agreed that Jesus of Nazareth had to die.

If Jesus came out as a Pharisee, the Sadducees would know how to deal with him. They dealt with Pharisees all the time.

If he came out as a Sadducee, the Pharisees would know how to deal with him. They dealt with Sadducees all the time.

But because Jesus refused to fit into any political category or party, neither party knew what to do with him. And so they agreed that they had to get rid of him. He was an equal threat to the political power of both.

Jesus knew their game and refused to play it.

But, more than that, Jesus was not interested in the politics of Judea or the Roman Empire. He was interested only in the kingdom of God, which meant he was only interested in loving people the way God loves them.

The devil tried to convince Jesus that it would be easier to love people the way God loves them if he controlled the military and political powers of the world (Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus rejected this in total.

Later, the people and their political parties tried to either convince Jesus or manipulate him into using politics to bring about the “will of God” (Gospel of Matthew 21 - 22). Again, Jesus rejected this in total.

This is why the politicians executed him.

They knew how to control and manipulate political movements and political opponents, but they did not know what to do with Jesus’s insistence to be non-political. If he picked a side, he would be half as powerful and subject to the same methods that they used to neutralize any political opponent.

But Jesus’s refusal to pick a side made him utterly beyond manipulation or neutralization. He was incorruptible, uncontrollable. And therefore powerful beyond anything they ever had to confront before.

So they used every political trick they knew to kill him.

The best part of the story is that “politics as usual” did not win.

God raised Jesus from the dead. Politics could not keep him in the grave. The ways of the kingdoms of this world could not stop the Way of the Christ from breaking out and spreading life and love the world over.

What is the moral of the story?

Politics are corruptible. Politics are corrupt*ing*. Politics are doomed to failure because they are always dividing, forcing humanity apart, weakening the whole from within.

But the Christ God raised from the dead in incorruptible and so are all those who God raises up with him (1 Corinthians 15:42). Politics is dividing and weakening, but in the resurrection of the Christ, God is uniting the whole (read all of Ephesians 2).

If the church of Christ believes that God raised its Christ from the dead, “incorruptible” and for the unity of all humankind, then the church of Christ rejects putting on political power in any form. Why would we believe that the Christ who refused to be political would want the church that bears his name to be political? Why would we get involved in the political system that executed our Christ?

As “picking a side” in politics would have emptied Jesus of Nazareth of any claim to being the Christ for all, so does “picking a side” in politics empty his church of its witness. As politics would have corrupted Jesus of Nazareth and perhaps saved him from death (the very thing that had to happen for him to become the risen Christ), politics corrupts the church of Christ and takes away the very source of our faith and power.

Jesus of Nazareth refused to be political and so should his church. Our power must not come from our control of the government or our influence over the people; it must come only from the God whose power raised Jesus from the dead.