Should Christians engage in politics?

Jesus is our model. The Bible calls him Son of David, king of the Israelites.

Jesus preached the Kingdom. The things he taught and did enflamed the leaders of the Jewish nation. They panicked. They saw that if Jesus continued, the streams of income they got by exploiting religious teachings and practices would dry up.

They persuaded Pilate, the Roman governor, to similarly worry about Jesus. He did. They acted jointly. They killed Jesus.

But in the plan of God, Jesus’ life modelled a different kind of kingship, a servant-kingship, while Jesus’ death exposed sin, which corrupts all things. His death exposed abuse of power and injustice like never before.

Jesus’ death was also a coronation. And His death freed him to spread his ministry and kingship from the limits of one nation into all nations.

Jesus said we should look to yeast to understand how his Kingdom grows. The lifegoal of yeast is to multiply, without losing its character as yeast.

We, like yeast, are to multiply in ways which uphold the dignity of man, in ways which do not have the appearance, odour or flavour of injustice.

We are to look out for our neighbours as much as for ourselves.

We can do that only by curbing harmful acts and promoting good acts. Desire to do such acts should spring from us when our hearts are renewed and re-oriented by God – like the sprouts of a germinating seed.

So, if we’re faithful Christians, we’ll be sanitation workers. We’ll be people who see, name, and oppose foul sights, odours, and flavours. We’ll be people who are known for seeking out ways to monitor, control and curb abuses of power. Abuses which caused great hardship to the people whom Jesus served, and which led to his murder.

We’ll also be builders. We’ll be people with a reputation for putting our neighbours first. People will ask “why do Christians do this?” And they’ll answer, “because they worship Jesus, the Son of David.” And they’ll add “because they don’t want to disappoint God like Israel did.”

Those who engage in politics control the shape of our nations and the welfare of our neighbours. As citizens, we have a commission to serve our neighbours. We have the power to influence public policies through holding political offices, through protesting, through proposing. We cannot and must not refuse our commissions.

Therefore, yes. Christians should engage in politics.

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