In November, 2008, the voters of California passed Proposition 8. There were 7,001,084 of the people that democracy tells us are the ones with the power to determine the direction of our government, who voted Proposition 8 into law. Yesterday, one federal judge–not elected by the people–decided with a stroke of his pen that the will of the people didn’t matter; the law was going to be what he thought it ought to be.

There is much that could be said about the issue in question; the legality of same-sex marriage. But for the moment I invite us all to forget that completely, because there’s an even bigger issue at stake. The most fundamental concept of United States government is the rule of the people, and by demonstrating that that’s not true, Judge Vaughn has shown us that American democracy is dead. One federal judge has the ability to wield the power of an absolute dictator to override the desires of the people.

The U.S. is a republic; a coalition of states voluntarily joining together. But we have just seen a dramatic indication that the states no longer have the right to set their own standards. This is an issue of sufficient importance, that I would not be surprised–in fact I would be delighted–if state governments began discussing seceding from the republic. Surely there are lines that the federal government cannot be allowed to cross.

It is traditional to fly the U.S. flag at half staff to mourn national losses. I hope people everywhere will fly their flags at half staff for the next few days, because we should be mourning a great death; the death of the days when the will of the people mattered.

I’ve summarized my feeling by frequently quoting pastor Tony Evans who said of those involved in an activity that Christians were up in arms about, “Of course they’re sinning. They’re sinners! That’s their job! And they’re going to keep right on sinning until we lead them to Jesus.” In other words, eternal souls are more important than short-term behavior. And if we can lead them to Jesus, the Holy Spirit can handle convicting them of sin and sanctifying them as they grow as disciples. As the old saying goes, “You can’t legislate morality” so let’s focus on evangelism and the rest will take care of itself.

All quite true. But…

I added more than a dozen quotations from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Preaching Unleashed as I reviewed his life for MLK Day. One of them speaks powerfully into this debate. “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”

Good point.

I have said many times that there is no biblical indication that Jesus spent a single word speaking up against the Roman government under which he lived. That the only people he spoke out against were the religious leaders of his time who had lost their way and were focused on the wrong things. But the situation is more complex than that.

The reality is that the Roman government was largely hands-off as long as there was peace and their subjects paid their taxes. The individual conquered regions under their control were largely self-governing. And who governed the nominal theocracy of Israel? The religious leaders! They’re the governing body that Jesus (and others) were taken before. And they wielded so much political power that even though the Roman governor Pontius Pilate wanted to let Jesus go, he wasn’t able to do so. So in fact, while those of us on this side of the cross see Jesus’ comments to the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes as religious arguments, the people of Jesus’ time would have seen them as challenging the political leaders as well.

So was Jesus a Republicrat?
The U.S. Political parties have become so extreme that I can’t imagine Jesus supporting either of them. Jesus was extremely outspoken about taking care of those who couldn’t take care of themselves (which sounds Democrat) but that certainly includes unborn children (which doesn’t.) Immigration? He reminded the Jews that they were once aliens. Look at how Jesus treated and spoke about those hated foreigners, the Samaritans.

Mentally complete this sentence: “We’ve got too many of those __________ moving in.” Now go read the story of The Good Samaritan and plug in the word you filled the blank with every time you see “Samaritan.” That’s exactly what Jesus was saying—all that matters is the heart of individual people, not the labels we apply to them. That goes whether our label is “Samaritan” or “Democrat” or “Republican” or “{insert your group from the blank here}”.

I can’t find an argument that Jesus would support any political party, but I can see a powerful argument that Jesus wants his followers to stand up for what is right and vote for the individuals who will do most to accomplish that. Rev. King challenged political power over an issue of human rights. He was very careful to do so in a non-violent way. He didn’t bad-mouth any political leader (unlike the offensive letter the Republican party sent out last week under the guise of being a survey). He calmly and powerfully spoke up for what was right.

I had drawn a mental line separating Christianity from politics, but I’m now convinced that was artificial and inappropriate. To be clear, I’m not talking about issues like taxes or which candidates are better from a business standpoint. I believe those are still individual viewpoints and not something either side can claim all Christians should support. But Jesus spoke clearly on issues that relate to our loving treatment of other humans, and I believe his followers are obligated to do the same.

I believe Rev. King was a great example of how Jesus would have his followers live their lives. Preaching the Gospel was his first love. His love for God and for people generated a righteous discontent with a situation in which people were being mistreated. I believe his concern came from a Christian love of others, and would have been just as strong whether he was a member of the mistreated group or not. He responded in a way that brought change without compromising his Christian witness. That’s an example I’d like to follow.