Whose side are you on?
Jesus didn’t get in trouble because he picked the wrong side; he got into trouble because he refused to pick a side.
Think about it.
The religious people of his day didn’t get along with each other. Some of them were Pharisees. Some of them were Sadducees. Some of them said “to hell with it” and moved to the desert (Essenes). All of them thought they were right and the others were wrong.
But they could agree on one thing: Jesus of Nazareth was bad.
Not because he picked one of them, but because he picked none of them. Jesus had no angle but to be faithful and obedient to God.
Not only was that hard for the religious cynics of his day to believe (“nobody is that pure!”), but it was something they simply could not stand. Just being next to Jesus showed them for what they really were. They weren’t in it for love; they were in it for the fight.
The political people of Jesus’s day didn’t get along with each other. Some of them were pro-Rome. Some of them were anti-Rome. In each group, there were extremes ranging from terrorist to traitor. All of them thought they were right and the others were wrong.
But they could agree on one thing: Jesus of Nazareth was bad.
Not because he picked one of them, but because he picked none of them. Jesus pledged allegiance only to the kingdom of God.
People who like politics define themselves by who they are against or who they are not. Jesus wasn’t against anyone. He seemed to be for everyone. Just being next to Jesus showed the political folks what they really were. They weren’t in it for the common good; they were in it for their own good and for the good of people like themselves.
Jesus was executed by the politicians and religious leaders of his day, not because he picked the wrong side, but because he didn’t pick a side at all!
But in not picking a side, Jesus made it clear to all that his kingdom is “not of this world.” Indeed, must not be of this world if it is to be of any good to those who are groping about in the darkness of politics and religion.
The church of Christ–those who are together practicing the life of Jesus Christ–must ask in today’s political and religious environment: Whose side are we on? How does our Lord hope we answer the question?