Would Jesus Vote?

6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did – 1 John 2:6

I have had this comical vision of Jesus in my mind the past few days. In it, I imagine our Jesus inside a voting booth – one of the old ones with the two levers, because He’s modern but not too modern. I imagine Him wrestling over which candidate to choose. Flooding over His own teaching, the hours go by before He finally gives up and walks out without a vote being cast. Under His breathe, declaring “I can change water to wine, raise the dead, and resurrect myself, but I can’t do this”.

Of course, this is meant to be funny and I apologize if you find it offensive, but odds are you have had a similar thought before. In the dark recesses of your own mind, the question remains:

How would Jesus vote?

While many have thought through this question every 2-4 years, I would posit that it perhaps is the wrong question entirely. Maybe the question is not who He would vote for, but if He would vote at all. Voting is a purely human concept and not one created by God. In fact, many believers argue that the the Christian life is a laying down of individual rights and not a grab for more. We might be served to ask if there are any other human institutions that Jesus engaged in, which we could compare. There is the story of the tax which Jesus paid, but as law He was complying but not enthusiastically.

As Americans, we are conditioned to take our right to vote seriously, even though on a good day our turn out still hovers around 40-60%. We come up with catchy slogans like “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain” to guilt the conflicted and disheartened to participate in a flawed system of binary choices. Of course, this does not stop anyone from complaining (case in point: Facebook) and also negates other civic duties like paying taxes and community service. Many others will use the ever popular “lesser of two evils” argument.

Since when has voting for any evil been a good option?

Should we not expect more than settling for evil?

And if evil is on the ballot, wouldn’t Jesus abstain?

Theologian, and perhaps the greater preacher of all time Charles Spurgeon said this about this conundrum: “Of two evils, choose neither”

Of course it isn’t always “evil vs evil”. Sometimes we merely have terribly unqualified or purely political options. Every candidate, as well as human, has their flaws. Some are more blaring than others. I cannot accept the idea of either human party reflecting with fidelity, the Christ they use for a few votes. This brings us to the flooding of politics into the American expression of faith.

Many have been taught that our country was built upon Christian ideals, by Christian leaders, thus making us a Christian nation. While the truth in this is questionable, the remnants of this thought still vibrates through both our politics and our faith. American ideals such as gun rights, rugged individualism, and fervent nationalism, have taken root so deeply into the American expression of our faith, that we may never be able to fully disentangle. While Christian values, such as the sanctity of life, love of enemies, and peacemaking, have been twisted into something counter to Biblical text. Many have blindly traded in the voice of Christ, for the voice of country and have missed orthodoxy – or the beautifully simple message of a God who doesn’t fit neatly into the categories we place Him.

I do however believe that this year is different than many. The stakes seem higher and therefore require more stretching of our thinking and not less. In a year where both candidates profess to be Christians, we would be best served to take their word, but to judge their fruit. If we cannot make the case for adherence to these telltales of the faith, perhaps it is permissible to not vote.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

I wish to write more on this in the coming days. I feel the need to unpack my thoughts on this more. With the lack of discussion within the safety of Church for a variety of reasons (lack of resources, offending big givers, uncertainty etc.), many of us must have the willingness to have the uncomfortable conversations. I hope this spurs on further discussion, and yes, disagreement. The shade of the cross is large enough to cover such disagreements, but too small for hatred and nationalism. This is a tremendous opportunity for the community of believers to examine their core beliefs as well as the voices they listen to. Now is the time to do the hard work of letting Christ refine our character and live as He lived and lives.