4 Lutheran Life
Believe it or not, Jesus is not a Republi-
can. He's not a Democrat either. Nor is He
an Independent or a member of any other
political party. Jesus doesn't have a political
agenda for the United States of America.
And yet He's also not apathetic or dismis-
sive of what happens in the world's polit-
ical spheres. We shouldn't be either. Part
of what it means to be a person who lives
in this country is that we have vocation-
al responsibilities to our government and
civic leaders. God cares about how we live
in America individually and corporately,
though these instructions don't explicitly
align us—or God—with specific political
parties or candidates.
It can be so easy to fashion a version of
Jesus to fit our political views, to blur the
lines between the hope promised in a polit-
ical campaign with the hope we cling to in
Christ. For while our faith certainly should
inform our political convictions, we must be
careful not to confuse God's plan to save the
world with a politician's platform.
POLITICIZING
JESUS
