Politics. Yep that’s right! Politics. I can’t stand politics
. However, I do know that in everything there is politics. From our hospitals, to schools, to our churches, politics is a buzz word used more frequently than, “Please and Thank you.”
This blog is not an “Obama” bashing one, or even a praising one. Rather this is about how politics messes up the norm. Yet again, I’m reminded of the gospel stories of Jesus when he encountered the Pharisees and the lawmakers. One such account was on “one Sabbath.” Many of Jesus’ epic teaching moments happened on “one Sabbath.” The Sabbath was very important to the Jewish community as it was literally, “a day of rest.” The law stated that from sun down to sun up you were not to do any form of work at all. If you were caught doing work than you would be in trouble by the law.
Luke 6:1 is where we pick up this story at where Jesus is in the grain fields with the 12 knuckleheads picking grain, rubbing them in their hands and eating the kernels. Some of the Pharisee’s saw this and asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Jesus being full of sarcasm quoted scripture at them saying, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions where hungry? He entered the house of God (the temple) and taking consecrated bread, ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Jesus broke the mold when it came to destroying the law; he obliterated it. He came to fulfill the law, which is a conundrum to me because he came to fulfill the law yet he destroyed it. This guy is awesome!!!
As we continue reading this passage in v. 6 the scriptures tell us yet again, “on another Sabbath,”; get the picture here? There was something political going on here. But it wasn’t Jesus that was being political, he came to bring change to the law, not to mess around with politics. Jesus went to the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew exactly what was going on and said to the man with the messed up hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.”
Pause. Don’t miss what Jesus is doing here. We read at the beginning of the story that “on a sabbath” Jesus ate some grain from a field. And then on another Sabbath he healed a man with a mess up hand. The law stated that no work, no healing, no nothing was to happen on the Sabbath, according to the law. But Jesus is defying that and doing it anyway. Was Jesus being a rebel here? You darn right he was, but he wasn’t doing it maliciously he was doing it for a reason. And that reason was so that people would know that the law had faults in it and that no one could be perfect enough to follow it. It was impossible for every Jew to follow the law.
Jesus wasn’t concerned with the law. He did not come to fight the law but to completely destroy it. If we look ahead in the Gospel stories to Jesus death we see that when Jesus was on the cross, dead, on the third day when he arose and ascended into heaven, the veil in the temple was torn in two. Therefore bridging the gap between the law, the lawmakers and with every force of politics out there.
Now I want to switch gears now and talk about whether or not Jesus cares about politics now. 
The greatest commandment that Jesus told us what to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” The neighbor here is the people who are in power over us, meaning that we should support and love those who in the public office. No matter if you are conservative, liberal or moderate we are called to love and support those people that we have elected. And we should voice our opinions lovingly to them if they are doing a bad job or going against their word.
For example, if an elected official says that they say they oppose abortion or stem cell research or whatever the issue is when they are campaigning and then when elected they go against that we have every right to peacefully and lovingly tell them how we feel about the issue that we feel wronged with.
Paul instructed us to pray for those who are in office over us. Encourage them, Pray for them, no matter what beliefs they are. No matter what you think about them. Jesus said to love everyone and this includes those who make laws and govern us. We elected the officials because we felt like they were going to do a good job and they do do a great job. Therefore, instead of getting huffy or in a tussle about politics let us love one another.
And that’s what grinds my gears
D
