Thursday, September 11, 2008

Jesus Was Not A Community Organizer

The popular mantra today among democratic leaders is that "Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor."

As if that says anything relevant at all about Gov. Palin and Senator Obama.

But the statement is as untrue as it is ridiculous. Jesus was not a "community organizer". Even stripping away all religious and theological considerations, you still could not say this of Jesus.

Jesus purposely remained apolitical, because his message was transcendent - a message of forgiveness and reconciliation.

When Jesus was asked about what he thought of paying taxes to Caesar, he said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

Community organizers identify an issue, train people how to agitate and then lead some kind of public agitation. Their goal is to effect political change, usually having to do with some entity paying money for reparations or a project.

Jesus did nothing of the sort. Not once did Jesus call for any change in laws, or removal of politicians, or lead marches on behalf of one group or another.

And he lived in a country whose citizens were subject to the rule of another country - Rome. Yet not once did he call for their overthrow, or highlight any "injustice".

His was a higher mission, and he spent his time largely teaching those closest to him about God's ways. He could have led a political revolution. He could have led an army of rebels. He could have converted people by the sword. He did none of that. What he did do was miraculous, and I'll leave that for the reader to discover, for there is much to discover.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

AMEN!