The Weekly Perspective
by Burke Shade, Associate Pastor
Yes, Christmas is over, at least in the West; our Eastern brothers are still celebrating! But it’s not really over, at least the import of it, because of the political nature of Christ’s birth: He was born a King, and worshipped as a King, and as we all know, Herod was not too happy with that (as neither was Pharaoh, who killed a lot of baby boys so they wouldn’t rise up and be king, either).
But at the end of his life, the political authorities were still not too happy with Jesus the King. The Jewish leaders were incensed at Pilate for writing “King of the Jews” and placing the placard on his cross. That was after Pilate also had some misgivings about Jesus being a King who could muster all the armies he wanted.
This is because the unbelieving mind always understands political rule in a particular way — as coercion and tyranny and the imposition of right-handed power. This kind of political power and rule breaks the two greatest commandments: it doesn’t love God and it doesn’t love its neighbors. But what was the life of Jesus all about, if it wasn’t loving God his Father and his neighbors as himself?
Which implicates YOU right along with Jesus, because you are in Jesus and you wear his name! As we celebrate the life of Jesus the next six months or so, we are implicating ourselves as Jesus People who follow the Way, which means we shouldn’t be surprised if we gain the attention of the political rulers/cancel crowd/fact-checkers in the same manner as Jesus did: by loving the Father and loving neighbors as ourselves. Unbelieving political rulers don’t really like that; it’s a challenge to their rule. Yes, and so was Jesus! Being a merry wine-bibber really gets under their skin! May Jesus use it and us to bring them to true worship!