Following the Political Jesus Today

Today's Reading

Read Matthew 5:43-48: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

Then read Luke 6:27-36: "But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you... Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."

Reflection

We have traced the politics of Jesus from his entry into a world of explosive expectations, through his rejection of every faction's program, to his confrontation with empire, his death on a cross, and his resurrection as Lord of the world. Now we face the hardest question: what does it mean to follow the political Jesus today?

The answer begins with the most demanding command Jesus ever gave: love your enemies.

In first-century Palestine, "enemies" was not an abstraction. Everyone knew who the enemies were. For the Zealots, it was Rome. For the Pharisees, it was the morally impure. For the Sadducees, it was anyone who threatened the status quo. Jesus told all of them: love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Do good to those who hate you.

N.T. Wright underscores how radical this was: "Love your enemies. This is not a vague, sentimental ideal. In the political world of first-century Palestine, it was the most radical and dangerous thing anyone could say." It was dangerous because it cut across every political program. The Zealots could not love Rome and still lead an armed revolt. The Pharisees could not love sinners and still maintain their purity boundaries. The Sadducees could not love the poor and still protect their wealth. Enemy love was — and is — the most politically disruptive command in the Sermon on the Mount.

In our own time, the enemies are different but the command is the same. The progressive must love the conservative who holds views she finds repugnant. The conservative must love the progressive who advocates policies he believes are destructive. Both must refuse to dehumanize, demonize, or dismiss the other — not because the disagreements do not matter, but because the people who hold those views bear the image of God.

This is not a call to weak-willed niceness or the abandonment of conviction. Jesus loved his enemies all the way to the cross — but he never stopped telling the truth. He wept over Jerusalem — but he did not pretend that its leaders were making good decisions. Love and truth are not opposites. In Jesus, they are inseparable.

Tim Keller insisted on the public scope of the gospel: "If the gospel is not relevant to the whole of a person's life, including public and political life, it is not really the gospel at all." Following the political Jesus today means bringing the whole gospel — including the terrifying command to love our enemies — into every arena of public life. It means praying for leaders we did not vote for. It means seeking the genuine good of communities we disagree with. It means refusing to treat any human being as beyond the reach of God's love.

Going Deeper

This plan has asked you to read the gospels with new eyes — to see the political Jesus who refused every faction, rode a donkey instead of a war horse, defeated the powers through a cross, and rose to claim the throne of the universe. Now the question is yours: will you follow him? Not the Jesus of the left or the right, but the Jesus of the gospels — the one who loved his enemies to death and was raised to reign forever? His politics are not comfortable. They are also the only politics that will endure.