We live in a country where the political landscape is deeply divided. Our current national division, however, is not a new phenomenon. For more than three decades I have taught less than a mile from where Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, saw that the political crisis of his day posed an existential threat to this experiment in democracy. What he does so powerfully and persuasively in his well-known “Gettysburg Address” is raise the sights of the American people by inviting his audience to join in “the unfinished work” of creating a nation “of the people, by the people, and for the people” that demonstrates to the world that “all [persons] are created equal.”
Like Lincoln, I wonder if our “house divided” today “can long endure.” If we view politics as a zero-sum game, where every outcome is a win for one side that is offset by a loss for the other side, then win-win solutions will elude us. We will remain divided, and the sum of our victories and losses will continue to be zero! As a practicing Christian, however, I think there is “a still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) that builds on the Old Testament prophetic insight, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
It begins with Jesus’ vision of his mission, which comes from Isaiah 61, a passage that Jesus read in his hometown synagogue at the outset of his public ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor … to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1-2a quoted in Luke 4:18-19). In Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God, no one is left out or left behind. Even those on the fringes of society are included. In fact, as Jesus will say in his parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), how one treats “the least of these my brethren” (Matthew 25:40, 45) – those who are hungry, thirsty, estranged, naked, sick, and imprisoned – will be the basis for judging the nations of the world in the future. Again, we see in Jesus’ teaching that everyone has a vital role to play in God’s [unified] Kingdom. Jesus invites all to participate in this important work.
In Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God, no one is left out or left behind. Even those on the fringes of society are included.
Worth recalling is the fact that our ancestors were “outsiders” at one time. The Christian movement began within Judaism, and early Jewish Christians wrestled with whether Gentiles should be included as the people of God. The Apostle Paul, a full-blooded Jew, was perhaps the staunchest defender of Gentile inclusion because he recognized that in Christ, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28). Gentile Christians, therefore, owe a debt of gratitude to those ancients who were willing to extend a hand across the aisle and welcome them into the fellowship of believers.
Because of our oneness in Christ, continued acceptance of and care for others within the community of faith is essential. In his final words to his disciples Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). The selfless love that Jesus speaks of in the Upper Room is described by the Apostle Paul in these terms: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). And because love endures into the Age to Come, “Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8a) and is “the greatest of these” spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Because of our oneness in Christ, continued acceptance of and care for others within the community of faith is essential.
The Apostle Paul wrote these words about love to a community that was plagued with factions and divisions (1 Corinthians 1:10-13) encouraging them to “be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10). But unity in Paul’s thinking does not mean uniformity. Paul’s use of the body analogy in 1 Corinthians 12 shows that not everyone in a functioning body does what every other part does. A body needs a diversity of its parts to function properly, and all of those parts are interdependent on the other parts. A healthy body does not privilege one part over another. All parts are equal.
How we treat other members of the body is vitally important because it reveals something about our love of God. As the author of 1 John so perceptively understands, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 John 4:20-21). But the love of fellow believers is also a witness to the world. At the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
On the other hand, “enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions” are what Paul labels “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-20). These stand in stark contrast to “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These latter qualities are the ones that Christians need to cultivate, commend, and seek out in others.
I am concerned that our divisive political topography has had a negative impact on our work and witness as Christians in the world. The Corinthians saw no harm in following the leader of their choice, they relished exercising their freedom to eat meat and worship God as they wanted, and they ignored the impact that the sinful behavior of one person has on the health of the whole body but willingly took fellow-believers to court over minor disputes. No, says Paul. Christian unity is never grounded in human authority figures (see 1 Corinthians 1:12-13; 3:4-9), Christian freedom must be constrained by what builds up the whole community (1 Corinthians 8:9-13; 14:12, 26), and the sinful behavior of one person is like a cancer that infects the entire body (1 Corinthians 5:1, 6-8, 11-13). Besides this, disputes between believers should be handled in-house or dropped altogether (1 Corinthians 6:1-8).
Today more than ever, we need what Lincoln called a “new birth of freedom,” and I believe that Christians of all stripes are being called to put aside their differences and speak with a united voice that faith and truth, justice and inclusion, love and compassion are the hallmarks of the Christian faith.
As the midterm elections of 2022 approach, I urge all Christians to “test the spirits” (1 John 4:1) of candidates running for office to determine whether they are “false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15), for “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Candidates, who create division and distrust, who engage in heated rhetoric that promotes hatred and distrust of those with whom they disagree, who seek to win even if it means forgoing the truth and promoting lies, who are unwilling to limit their freedoms for the benefit of the community, may use Christian language to justify their positions, but they are not representing accurately the historic Christian faith that Jesus taught and lived.
Now is the time for Christians of all persuasions, along with persons of all faiths and no faith, to unite and elect to political office those who are upright in character, faithful in behavior, and moral in their decision-making. Those are the persons best equipped to help us finish what Lincoln called our “unfinished work.”
This article was first published by The Seeds of Jubilee Foundation.
