“Christianity is at its best when it is peculiar, marginalized, suffering, and it is at its worst  when it is popular, credible, triumphal, and powerful.” ― Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals

I wonder if Jesus would participate in the flurry of political conversations that are swirling around us today? Would he post his views on Facebook? Would he allow himself to be part of the seemingly endless political debates of today? Would he write blogs expressing his political views? Would he allow himself to get caught up in cliché politics?

Of course all this is speculation but there is one thing I am fairly certain about: Jesus would never talk about politics without also talking about the Kingdom of God. Politics for Jesus was the kingdom of God. 

I believe that it would be a grave mistake for us to turn the kingdom of God into some afterlife reality only or into some spiritual reality that transcends life here on earth. As I pointed out in my last post: Jesus inaugurated God’s kingdom in real earth time. One cannot separate Jesus, the God’s kingdom and life today.

So whenever Jesus talked about the kingdom of God he was going political on us. The parables of the mustard seed and yeast found in Matthew’s Gospel (13:31-33) illustrate this for us. 

The kingdom of God may be compared to a mustard seed that begins its life really small but grows into a significantly large tree. The kingdom of God began small in the life of Jesus. It grew and grew over time. Saint Paul described it this way: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6). How did it grow? By planting!

Jesus is saying: You want to participate in the politics of God’s kingdom then plant the seeds of the Gospel and water (nurture) them along the way. You want to be political then plant seeds of God’s love, peace, justice, and grace in your world. One small humble act of planting could lead to significant change and good.

The parable of the yeast describes the nature of kingdom growth: It grows unnoticed and in subversive ways. There is no room in God’s kingdom for arrogant and flamboyant politics such as we witness today. God’s kingdom grows apart from all the rallies and cheering supporters.

There is no persona (false image) in kingdom politics. Optics are not everything. Kingdom politics occur often without the world’s notice. There are no rallies of cheering supporters and gaudy signs.

Jesus was a politician at heart but one of a different stripe. His kingdom politics were driven by radical inclusiveness, by restorative justice for all, by fairness and equality, and most importantly his politics were powered by kingdom love (agape). One does not need to be powerful nor wealthy to be a political leader in Christ’s kingdom; but one does have to be humble and gentle in spirit. 

Finally, Jesus’ kingdom politics were never about domination or violence. He had no armies. His was a kingdom of nonviolent resistance. 

So what is our big take away from all this? 

As Christians we are to model Jesus’ approach to politics, meaning of course that we would never engage in any political discussion or debate or system without first considering what the demands of God’s kingdom might be on our own lives, including our politics. 

Our political imagination should be shaped by our Christian faith and not just by our loyalty to our nation or to one political party or to one political theory over another. The fundamental starting place for Christian involvement in any politics is Christ and his teachings on his father’s kingdom. 

Let me say it as simply as I can: 

We should never allow our politics to shape our Christian faith, but rather we should allow our Christian faith to shape our politics.