Guest Sermon: If Jesus Were On the Ballot

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

Thy Homeless Neighbor

Thy Jewish Neighbor

Thy Black Neighbor

Thy Gay Neighbor

Thy Undocumented Neighbor

Thy White Neighbor

Thy Transgender Neighbor

Thy Christian Neighbor

Thy HIV+ Neighbor

Thy Racist Neighbor

Thy Addicted Neighbor

Thy Atheist Neighbor

Thy Imprisoned Neighbor

Thy Disabled Neighbor

Thy Muslim Neighbor

-- T-shirt text, inspired by a photograph of a similar homemade

shirt, taken in New York City shortly after Sept 11, 2001.

First Reading

Tim Wise, in his latest book, Dear White America, recounts an email exchange he had with a woman who was part of the tea party movement, and was unhappy with a remark he had made, namely that the Tea party mantra of taking the country “back” contains an unhealthy degree of racial resentment as part of its background noise. He writes: “She continued to insist that race had nothing to do with the tea party movement. … So I asked her quite simply what tea party folks mean when they say they wish to take their country back and she said we mean we want to go back to a time of lower taxes and smaller government … when people were self-sufficient and didn’t rely on others to provide for them, … when people believed in taking personal responsibility for their lives. … I wanted to know exactly when in our nation’s history did she think we had gotten it more or less right when it came to the proper level of taxation. … The answer came back in a matter of minutes, 1957. It was a fascinating answer, because it just so happens that in 1957 the top marginal tax rate in America was 91 %... more than double the highest rate today, even if all the recent tax cuts were allowed to expire. There were actually 18 tax brackets in 1957 that were higher than anything we have today and corporate taxes were much higher then also, as a share of overall revenue and as a share of the larger economy. … It suggests that there must be something other than the tax burden of that time which makes individuals like those in the Tea Party so wistful.”

Second Reading

By Howard Thurman—from his book Jesus and the Disinherited, written in 1949,

“The religion of Jesus makes the love-ethic central. This is no ordinary achievement. It seems clear that Jesus started out with the simple teaching concerning love embodied in the timeless words of Israel: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy might,” and “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Once the neighbor is defined, then one’s moral obligation is clear. In a memorable story Jesus defined the neighbor by telling of the Good Samaritan. With sure artistry and great power he depicted what happens when a man responds directly to human need across the barriers of class, race, and condition. Every man is potentially every other man’s neighbor. Neighborliness is non-spatial; it is qualitative. A man must love his neighbor directly, clearly, permitting no barriers between.”

Third Reading

Glenn Loury, in his essay “Race, Incarceration and American Values” wrote—

“Suppose we had to stop thinking of us and them? What social rules would we pick if we actually thought that they could be us? I expect that we would still pick some set of punishment institutions to contain bad behavior and protect society. But wouldn’t we pick arrangements that respected the humanity of each individual and of those they are connected to through bonds of social and psychic affiliation? If any one of us had a real chance of being one of those faces looking up from the bottom the well, of being the least among us,… then how would we talk publicly about those who break our laws… what would we do with juveniles that go awry…

we need to also think about whether we have done our share in ensuring that each person faces a decent set of opportunities for a good life. We need to ask whether we as a society have fulfilled our collective responsibility to ensure fair conditions for each person—for each life that might turn out to be our life.”

Sermon: “If Jesus were on the ballot” delivered by the Rev. Elaine Gehrmann on February 19, 2012

This sermon was purchased by Claudia Gross at last year’s service auction.

Claudia wanted to me to preach about justice, a subject she cares a lot about. It’s a subject that she says is not simple. It is affected by history, by wealth, and by power.

Last month, with the topic of justice on my mind, I was driving across town and I heard a report on National Public Radio by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, about a meeting of over 150 evangelical leaders that was occurring at a ranch in Texas…The mission of this meeting was to “unite behind one true-blue religious conservative for the Republican nomination.” What struck me was the quote I heard by Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis at the American Family Association. He said, “There is no perfect candidate. Jesus Christ is not on the ballot.”

I had to then think, what if Jesus were on the ballot? Would he be the obvious choice for the true-blue religious conservatives?

A blogwriter, M. Wade Hamilton heard the same NPR report I did, and on his blog “Diary of a 3^rd person” riffed a little on the possibilities—

“What if Jesus wanted to run for President? Well, first off, he couldn't. Jesus was born outside of the United States. Alexander Hamilton had to settle for Secretary of the Treasury, so why should Jesus be any different? …

there are also a few other roadblocks that Jesus would encounter during his campaign, and most of it would come from his opponents. No matter how great a candidate really is, his opponents (and their Super PACs) will find some way to try and knock him off his pedestal. Here is a short list of targets his GOP rivals would have in their neatly parted crosshairs.

1. Jesus was a Jew: there has never been a Jewish President before, and only the Mormon would let that detail slide.

2. Jesus was kind of a hippie: Love thy neighbor? Even if that neighbor wants to just walk over your unprotected border, steal the job you’re not willing to do, and pay the taxes you’re not willing to pay. I don't think so, Jesus!

3. He's kind of preachy: Not Falwell preachy, but pretty gosh darn preachy.”

Wade Hamilton also noted, “There are also a slew of reasons why he would be a great President, but those would get washed away in the tidal wave of negative campaign ads. They are still worth noting.

1. Jesus was the son of a carpenter: …, a good old-fashioned blue tunic-ed carpenter. Kind of like Joe the plumber, but with a more powerful father.

2. Jesus was a man of the people: Although the people in his day would follow just about anyone who had a good enough story to back up their crazy talk, his rhetoric was Biblical! Kind of like Ron Paul's.

3. Who else could quote scripture in 1st person? Nobody, that's who. The evangelicals would eat that stuff (sic) up.”

Hamilton concludes: “Unfortunately, Jesus could never be President of the United States, or even Governor of any state. He is far too controversial, and a polarizing figure. Those people never get elected. No, it is always some white-washed candidate who is just palatable enough to the independents to get enough votes outside of their already fervent and devoted base that gets elected. Jesus would have about as much chance to change the world in his time as, well, Jesus V1.0. Do you remember the first time he tried to speak out and get people to follow him? Yeah, how did that work out? …”

* * *

One reason why I find it very interesting to speculate about Jesus being on the ballot, is because there are so many candidates explicitly claiming their Christian faith.

As Gary Kamiya put it in a recent salon.com article (“Jesus vs. the GOP,” 2/7/12)--

“There has never been a more loudly Christian group of presidential candidates than this primary season’s GOP contenders. From the start, the campaign has been an exercise in Christian one-upmanship. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann set the standard for religious fervor, boasting of setting her alarm clock at 5 a.m. so she could read the Bible … Herman Cain said that he was inspired to run for president by the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Rick Perry released a video in which he intoned, “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian … As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion and I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage.”

“… Newt Gingrich, who has noisily proclaimed that his conversion to Catholicism saved his soul, repeated Perry’s charge, accusing President Obama of launching a “war on religion” by requiring that church-owned hospitals and universities provide insurance that covers birth control. “It’s a fundamental assault on the right of freedom of religion,” Gingrich said. “On the very first day I’m inaugurated I will sign an executive order repealing every Obama attack on religion.”…

“Rick Santorum went even further, essentially calling for America to become a theocracy. …

“…and Romney presents his free-market, anti-government ideology as more “American,” and by implication more “Christian,” than Obama’s.”

Kamiya says, “As someone who has spent many happy hours studying Christian theology, from Origen to Hans Kung, as well as modern scholarship about Jesus, I supposed I should be pleased by this eruption of holy fervor among the Republican candidates for the highest office in the land. But there’s just one little problem.

Jesus would have been appalled by the whole pack of them.”

* * *

I find it very interesting and somewhat puzzling, that it seems that whenever religious conservatives imagine the ideal Christian candidate, that this person should be primarily concerned with the issues of abortion and homosexuality. As far as we know, Jesus himself did not speak one word about either subject. I find it hard to imagine that either of those issues would be the centerpieces of his political platform today. But there are some issues that I do think would be crucial to his political agenda for America, and they are all rooted in Jesus’ commitment to justice, non-violence, and love.

So what might Jesus’ campaign platform look like?

One difficulty, right off the bat, as Andrew Fiala points out in his book What would Jesus Really do?, is that our sources of information about Jesus are limited, and the texts and traditions that tell us about Jesus were created in a time and place quite different from our own. The world of Jesus was patriarchal, hierarchal, and undemocratic. Also there are many complicated ethical issues that did not exist in Jesus’ time—stem cell research, genetic engineering, cloning, prenatal testing, and life-support technology to name just a few. Fiala’s argument is that for most ethical issues, Christians need to supplement the teachings of Jesus with the use of reason. But he does say that it is clear that Jesus offers three basic moral lessons. “First, he states the Golden Rule, we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Second he celebrates a set of virtues that include charity, mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, pacifism and love. And third, he shows us in his life and works the importance of service and sacrifice.”

* * *

So what might be first on Jesus’ agenda?

I think it would have to be his concern for the poor. Jim Wallis, the liberal theologian and founder of Sojourners, points out in his book God’s Politics, that “one of every sixteen verses in the New Testament is about the poor or the subject of money. In the first three gospels it is one out of every ten verses, and in the gospel of Luke it is one in seven!”

In his book, the Politics of Jesus, Professor of Biblical Interpretation at the New York Theological seminary, Obery Hendricks Jr., tells us that Israel in the time of Jesus was a land of the very rich and the very poor. “The very rich in Israel were a tiny upper class, less than 5 percent of the population, (perhaps closer to 1%?), comprised of Roman bureaucrats, aristocratic priests, a handful of rich landowners, and successful tax collectors. The rest of the people of Israel were poor, many to the point of destitution. Most of the poor were working poor, subsistence farmers, which meant that after they paid roman taxes, there was barely enough for survival.”

Hendricks says, “So deep and debilitating was the effect of impoverishment on the psycho-emotional health of his people that Jesus found it necessary to explicitly affirm their worth with the validation “blessed are you who are poor” (Luke 6:20). And when his disciples asked him how and what to pray for, he told them to keep the poverty and hunger of the people of Israel in view by praying: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ (Matthew 6:11) … And because so many peasants had to borrow funds from the wealthy in order to pay roman taxes… Jesus also taught them to pray ‘Forgive us our debts’…

Jesus was so deeply concerned about the spiral of financial indebtedness and dispossession that devastated so many in Israel, his concern to banish it from their lives is enshrined in the Lord’s prayer.”

Unlike some candidates, Jesus does care about the very poor.

Stephen Colbert “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”

Gary Kamiya points out: “Jesus demanded that his followers help the neediest. In Matthew 19:21 he says: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.’ But Jesus went further, warning that the mere possession of wealth, and the overvaluation of worldly possessions, stands in the path of salvation. From Matthew 19:24: ‘And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.’”

Obery Hendricks tells us that “In what the gospel of Luke portrays as the inaugural sermon of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus announces that the reason for his anointing by God and the purpose of his mission in the world are one and the same—to proclaim radical economic, social, and political change: ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me,/because he has anointed me/to bring good news to the poor./He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives/and recovery of sight to the bling,/to let the oppressed go free,/to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ (Luke 4:18-19)”

* * *

Bill Maher, on Sept. 30, 2011 on his show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” contemplated Jesus running for President:

“…For a Republican candidate to not disappoint you, he would have to be Jesus of Nazareth. And even Jesus would be toast after a few news cycles. Because "feed the hungry"? Sounds suspiciously like welfare. And "heal the sick"... for free??? That is definitely Obamacare! And "turn the other cheek"? Maybe you didn't hear, Jesus, but this is the party that cheers executions.

So here now is the short campaign timeline of Jesus Christ, Republican candidate.

Day 3-- Three days after Jesus announces he's in, a Gingrich spokesman reports that he read Jesus's book... and finds some aspects of it troubling. Mitt Romney says Jesus's previous statements make him appear anti-business. And Rick Perry asks if America is ready for a Jewish President. …

Day 7-- At the Republican debate, the other candidates pile on the new frontrunner. Michele Bachmann calls the meek inheriting the earth a colossal expansion of the estate tax. And Newt Gingrich scores the big zinger when he says, "Mr. Christ, America can't afford another cheek!"

Day 9-- Teabaggers start getting e-mails from their idiot brother-in-law about how Jesus is not even from this country. And was born alongside a bunch of animals in a manger. And not to harp on it, but where's the birth certificate? And if he's a carpenter, is he too pro-union?

Day 10-- Jesus is now polling fourth behind Perry, Romney, and the pizza guy. And in a desperate attempt to gain credibility, he goes to New York and has coffee with Trump... who pronounces him, "a decent guy, but a little effeminate."

* * *

John Dominic Crossan, co-founder of the Jesus seminar, points out that the perhaps the most radical element in Jesus’ life, was his feasting with the outcasts, with prostitutes and highwaymen, and says that his table manners pointed the way to his heavenly morals. “Crossan sees Jesus living within a Mediterranean Jewish peasant culture, a culture of clan and class, in which who eats with whom defines who stands where and why. So the way Jesus repeatedly violates the rules on eating, would have shocked his contemporaries. He dines with people of a different social rank, which would have shocked most Romans, and with people of different tribal allegiance, which would have shocked most Jews.”

Religious leaders often found Jesus' association with those generally mistreated or totally ignored by those of higher social rank galling, "And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them'" (Lk 15:2).

Who would Jesus be eating and drinking with today? And who is our neighbor? The dispossessed of our time, as the t-shirt text declares on the front of our order of service—

* * *

And what about the other issues?

So on foreign policy, where would Jesus stand?—let’s see, love your enemies, turn the other cheek, forgive those who have wronged you 70 times 7, and, oh yeah, Blessed are the peacemakers.

On taxes—Render unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and, don’t forget, for unto whom much has been given, much will be required.

On racism—Unlike most of the renaissance paintings and modern depictions of a white Jesus with long straight hair, Jesus would most likely have had a much darker complexion and dark curly hair… with physical features much more like those in our society typically discriminated against… he also certainly could identify with a people with a history of being enslaved and being an ethnic minority up against a dominant majority.

On immigration-- :"You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien for you were aliens in

the land of Egypt.” And of course, love thy neighbor.

On the war on drugs—he did turn water into wine, but he might be a stronger advocate for a wilderness vision quest to alter one’s consciousness.

On prisons and punishment—Jesus preached that we should visit the imprisoned, and that he himself came to set the captives free… Jesus did not believe in an eye for an eye… he preached forgiveness and reconciliation… judge not lest ye be judged, he that is without sin cast the first stone, and of course, love thy neighbor.

And it’s hard for me to believe that given his own fate, that Jesus is a big fan of the death penalty.

Also hard to believe that he would think that corporations are people…

* * *

The sad truth is that if Jesus were on the ballot, I don’t think he’d win… not enough money, not enough political cronies, not enough corporate sponsorship, he certainly wouldn’t run negative attack ads…

But he might have my vote.

Obery Hendricks says that, “In a real sense, Jesus was the ultimate activist in that he dedicated his entire being to struggling to bring the world in line with the vision of love, liberation, and justice given to him by God. …for him true spirituality consisted of an active commitment to health, wholeness, an just for all God’s children as the highest expression of our love for God. … In practical terms this means that whenever we… become aware that any of God’s children are caught in webs of oppression of mind, body, or spirit, it is our divine duty to struggle for the liberation and deliverance of our suffering neighbors in the same way that we would struggle for our own.”

Virginia Smith, in an article on American catholic.org entitled, “Jesus on Justice: A hunger and thirst for righteousness,” says that “Perhaps nowhere does Jesus speak as forcefully on human relations as he does in his final sermon recorded in Matthew, in the familiar parable of the sheep and the goats. It is worth noting the traits that separate the two groups. The sheep at the Father's right hand will be invited to inherit his kingdom because they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked and visited the imprisoned.”

“Conspicuously absent from the list are supposedly religious activities, such as prayer, fasting and pilgrimage. Jesus insists that those five deeds and others like them are religious activities. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40b). Conversely, the goats on his left hear, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me" (Mt 25:45b).”

Hendricks tells us– “In the politics of Jesus, then, every policy and policy proposal must be judged by Jesus’ yardstick of love and justice. We must ask: do our social programs treat the people’s needs as holy? Do our tax laws? Do our healthcare policies treat as holy all in need of coverage? Do our foreign policies treat all people as children of the same creator?

… The goal of Jesus’ movement, ministry, and politics is a new creation: a political order that truly serves the good of all in equal measure. “

* * *

The Re. Scotty McLennan, UU minister and Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University, in his book Jesus was a Liberal, quotes an article by the editor of the Christian Century, who reminds us that “ people living in exile don’t get to define the terms of political discourse: Conservatives have won the rhetorical battle.” He also observes that ‘because tolerance is one of the central values of liberals, they ‘don’t like to fight, but instead are always trying to accommodate people, to be inclusive even of those who are trying to exclude them.’ The editor concludes that ‘the first thing on the minds of my conservative brothers and sisters when they get of bed in the morning is fighting liberals, whereas liberals get out of bed trying to figure out how to live with conservatives.’”

But McLennan goes on and says that “tolerance doesn’t mean capitulation. It doesn’t mean shying away from liberal religious values that defend the freedom of all, promote the use of reason, and affirm the human potential to better ourselves and help repair a broken world.”

Annie Dillard, in her book Holy the Firm reminds us— “Who shall ascend into the hill of the lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead – as if innocence had ever been – and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready, having each of us chosen wrongly, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak, and involved. But there is no one but us. There never has been.”

There is no one but us,

To feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned…

To donate to the Frances Nelson health clinic, or the Wesley food pantry or the Salt and Light ministry, to participate in the church’s hunger initiative, to volunteer at a soup kitchen…to love our neighbors.

* * *

Obery Hendricks says that “In practical terms, Jesus’s conception of God’s kingdom, is a society based on love of others rather than self-centeredness and greed; an economy based on cooperation and consideration of others’ needs rather than thoughtless competition; a government based on caring rather than cronyism; politics based on service rather than selfishness.”

This does not sound like a winning platform this November, but it’s the only one I want to support…

Claudia thinks justice isn’t simple. I might have to disagree with her. In the words of another great religious prophet, “All you need is love. Love. Love is all you need.”

May we seek to create the world we dream of living in,

May we seek to fulfill the needs of our neighbors, and to seek justice for all.

Maybe we embrace our liberal faith and continue to resist greed with generosity, resist judgment with acceptance, and resist all forms of hatred and indifference with the indomitable power of love, love, love.

Amen.