Politics

THURS., JAN. 26, 1989, 6:50 AM
FARM, STUDY

“And the government shall be upon His shoulders”… This portion of the Isaiah prophesy of My coming into the earth as Jesus is not positively impressive to you. You do not feel that I was much concerned with politics, and that I deliberately denied the opportunities I had to save My self in Pilate’s court. And so you wonder about My present political concerns, feeling that these are not My major concerns. This is your “background.” I take it from here.

My concerns for politics stem from My concerns for human persons. Politics are important to the way people’s lives can be lived, and I certainly am aware of tyranny and injustice mixed in with responsibility and compassion. In one sense My action in the political realm is somewhat Like My influence on the weather: basically I let it function as it will, without significant interventions. And for the same reason: when I change the order of circumstances and consequences to benefit some, this change is harmful to some others.

Now the difference should be obvious. I can influence individual souls, who then may be elected to or selected for some political office. My influence thus is indirect, but when servants of Mine are functioning in the political process there I am represented, and this is My “best way.”

Yes, I do prefer democracies to dictatorships, but I do have a continuing warm regard for monarchies. The powerful, benevolent king, such as My servant David was, is a governmental form I like, even as I know it is “not in style” now. There is nothing wrong with nostalgia for something good from the past. You prefer music from other eras. I still like good kings and queens.

Democracy is not a perfect system, and, in pure form, it becomes unworkable in a large population, particularly when time and timelines are crucial factors. The republic, or representative democracy, becomes the practical alternative. But this leads to political bargaining, and what should be done by a government is continually tempered by what is possible. The political process has within it the right to tax citizens in a variety of ways. Taxes can certainly be burdensome for many people, but they are necessary if government is to provide services needed by many… and if those employed by the government are to be paid adequately.

I realize that government involves many machinations, some of which I cannot approve. There is no perfect way to govern, particularly in a democratic form. This is the reason that, as Jesus, I denied the prophesy and did not take the government upon My shoulders. Try to imagine Me as the gentle but forceful king, taking on the Roman empire. Would I have used my supernatural powers (as in directing My pre-disciples to a huge catch of fish), or would I have had to get into the unpleasant business of taxing people and raising and outfitting an army? You can see that neither alternative was ideal. So I bypassed that opportunity.

Christian groups… churches… have to be governed, and you see a wide variation in how this is done. Roman Catholic and Orthodox groups still opt for authority in single individuals (the equivalent of the king). I like popes and priests, and I have much influence through such folk, when each truly has his hand in Mine. Then there are presbyteries, sessions, official boards, and boards of deacons – elected groups that govern in more democratic ways. I work with these too, but the process is more complex.

Do I favor one or the other of your political parties? The partisans in each naturally feel that I am on their side… or else non-functional in the political scene. I like the party that achieves and maintains peace… the absence of war. I have some difficulty with “peace through strength,” even as I appreciate that it sometimes works. Goliath should have won, of course. I like the party that has compassion for the poor, the homeless, and the downtrodden. Yet I also approve of human dignity that is developed out of working against odds and winning out over adversity.