Do you believe America will face another civil war in our lifetime? I certainly pray not! While I do not believe there will be a war of weapons, make no mistake that there is a civil war of ideologies. I often wonder how different the climate of today’s America feels compared to the mid-1800s before the Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln. I have heard historians say that today’s politics are more intense than they were in the 1860s. Looking back over my few decades, it feels that we have shifted from the great United States to the divided United States. What do you think Jesus would say to today’s Church?
Jesus was not immune to political strife. The world in which Jesus was born was ruled by the iron fist of the Roman Empire. Israel was occupied by Rome and paid high taxes to Caesar. Christ was not only a threat to the religious leaders of his day, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, He was also a threat to the political leaders, because the greatest thing that Pontius Pilate and King Herrod feared was an insurrection that would upset the authorities in Rome.
Consequently, Jesus had the unique ability of bringing people together. Think about this, two of his core followers were on polar opposite ends of politics. When he called Matthew to follow Him, Matthew was a tax collector (Matthew 9:9). This means he would have been public enemy number one to a Jew, because the taxes he collected funded Rome’s army which occupied Israel. Jesus also called a man named Simon. The only detail we have about him in the Bible is that he was a Zealot (Matthew 10:4). Zealots would have been viewed by Rome the way we see modern-day terrorists. They were extremists who believed in violence. These two men could not have been on more opposite ends of the political spectrum, yet when they met Jesus, they laid down their political agendas and became Christ-followers.
Jesus loves to bring opposites together and make them one. Sometimes I think about how educated Paul was and how uneducated Peter was. God had a plan and purpose for both of them and used them to change the world. How should Christians handle political strife? The answer is to rise above the noise and not get entangled in political quarrels. Instead, we should seek to walk in the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17:11 when He said to the Father, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” As Christians, our unity is not in politics nor preferences, but is in Jesus!
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