Following Rick Warren’s apparently ill-judged tweet suggesting that Jesus was a political centrist, a number of conservative pundits rounded on the Saddleback pastor, forcing him to eventually delete the offending tweet.
Given that a lot of the condemnation of Warren got here from the political right, can we assume that Jesus was in truth a conservative?
Both left and right, understandably want to assert Jesus Christ as a supporter. Witness the recent fight, also via tweet, between US Vice President JD Vance and former British MP, Rory Stewart, about the best way to interpret Jesus’ command to “love thy neighbour” within the context of mass immigration.
Unsurprisingly, it is not actually possible to restrict the Son of God into one in all the pre-packaged boxes of early 21st century politics. A temporary leaf through scripture suggests that Jesus may very well be taken to align with all of different points of the political compass at different times.
Jesus the liberal
John 8:10-11: “When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the girl, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
Here we see Jesus being “soft on crime”. He could quite easily decide to be the “law and order” candidate, but as a substitute he opts for forgiveness, although he does add that he doesn’t approve of her behaviour and encourages her to vary her ways.
Jesus the conservative
Matthew 5:17-18 “Think not that I’m come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I’m not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no sensible pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
In these verses Jesus appears very conservative. He has not come to vary the old ways, in truth he has come to fulfil them. In other verses Jesus urges his followers to obey the teachings of the pharisees, although not to repeat their hypocritical behaviour. He has not come to upend the social order.
Jesus the revolutionary
John 2:15-16 says, “And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take this stuff hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
Now we see Jesus really taking the fight to the authorities. He’s not glad with how the bizarre believers are being treated and ripped off by the temple authorities. In the tip, it is the threat that he poses to the ruling authorities within the temple that results in the plot to kill him.
Jesus the reactionary
Matthew 19:8, “He saith unto them, Moses due to the hardness of your hearts suffered you to place away your wives: but from the start it was not so.”
In this case upholding the established law shouldn’t be enough for Jesus. He actually harks back to the Garden of Eden and essentially says humanity should return to that.
Conclusion
Jesus was not concerned with politics in any major way. “My kingdom shouldn’t be of this world” is what he said before Pilate. It is most unwise to assert Jesus is or can be a supporter of this or that political party or cause. Ultimately Jesus was concerned with God’s kingdom, whether found prior to now, in Eden, or in the longer term, within the restored city of God shown in Revelation.
It is by that standard that we must attempt to make our own decisions about the best way to proceed on this planet we live in.
