… And The Government Shall Be…

WED., DEC. 13, 1995, 9:34 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM

Yes, o son, this is a season to ponder such an oft-repeated Scriptural promise. In Isaiah, the long “book” your morning group is slogging through, I have that prophet completing the phrase with “…upon His shoulder…”. This is interpreted to be a prophesy that I, As Jesus, fulfilled… with the assumption that I would ascend to the throne of David and be the perfect King of the Jews. Obviously something went wrong.

You were at least somewhat intrigued with that piece by My servant Bill that questioned the Christmas-time favoring of a king as the form of government to await and hope for. I have told you two things about government. Most importantly there is no form of government that I see as clearly superior to all others, and, secondly, I still have a preference for a benevolent king. Shouldn’t I have more favor for a republican form of democracy? Isn’t your system the ideal one?

All forms of government, over any sizeable population, become adversarial. The three kings that I established – Saul, David, and Solomon – all had rivals, and all had to be continually aware of protecting their own lives. David could have killed Saul, several times, knowing that Saul was trying to kill him. With David’s retirement there was the question as to which son would succeed him, and adversaries continued to plague Solomon.

Today there is much less killing, but your wonderfully representative government will probably shut down again, partially, because each party sees itself as the righteous one. And each is, in different ways. Elections are increasingly costly, and winning is increasingly important so that favors can be done for contributing constituents. The elderly are constituents, and so are the poor and children… but they must, often, be adversaries that compete for tax monies.

Taxation was an issue in My time in the earth, as Jesus. The Romans were the power in government, which gave them the right to tax, a right every government has. One of My disciples was chosen from behind the tax collector’s table, and this made both him and Me suspect in the eyes of some, for tax collectors were not positively valued in that culture. One dilemma for your government, out of its desire to cut the deficit and finally eliminate it, will be how much to cut the resources of the IRS, those necessary to assure that most pay the taxes that they legally owe. Those who must pay taxes would generally like to pay less, but those who benefit from government services want these to continue and to increase (including some of these who pay taxes).

So you can see why, despite Isaiah’s prophesy (of 600 years in the future?!) I did not even consider taking the government upon My shoulder… or shoulders. As you read My story in the four Gospels I was not popular with many of the influential Jews, and My public support varied almost as much as that of Newt, today. I knew you couldn’t operate a government on miracles, and I saw, both as an intelligent, perceptive man, as well as the Messiah God, that no policies that I set would be popularly sustainable, with Jewish constituents, Roman adversaries, and gentles. (And that culture was more homogeneous than yours.)

Oh, I could have killed all of My adversaries, like unto how I handled the resettling of the Promised Land, but that too, strangely, doesn’t have long term sustainability. As Jesus I not only wasn’t a killer, but I was the One to suffer, as kings were not supposed to do.