Jesus on Politics
Sometimes it seems like Jesus doesn’t give us the straight answers we’d like. That was certainly the case in the first century. A hot topic amongst the Jews was whether they were obligated to pay taxes to Rome. They tried to trick Jesus into giving an answer that would get him in trouble - either with the Romans or with the Jewish revolutionaries. But instead, his deft answer confounds them all - while clearly both valuing the political process and subverting it.
Listen in to Jesus here. And as you listen to him, think about questions like these, seeking to have his wisdom, his courage, and his commitment to the public good:
Should Christians protest? Are there limits to what we should protest?
Should we seek to reallocate the 49% of Long Beach’s $550 million general fund that goes to the police force to do more community policing and other means of public safety that could be more effective and less violent than traditional policing?
How do we follow Jesus at the polls in November? Who would Jesus vote for?
Hold those questions, and your current level of political involvement, in mind as you read about how the Master handled tricky questions like these.
Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent. - Luke 20:20-26
p.s. Pray for the Long Beach City Council, which is discussing the budget and police reform in their meeting tonight.