In part 1, I cited the Beatitudes as setting forth Christ’s values, and added my own comments on how they might apply to the issues we face as we vote in the mid-term elections.
Now I want to move to another passage, also from the gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 25: 31-46, titled in most Bibles as “the Sheep and the Goats,” Jesus foretells the day when he will sit on his heavenly throne and separate people “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,” with the “sheep” on his right and the “goats” on his left.
The criteria? Well, correct doctrine didn’t merit a mention; neither did political affiliation. Church attendance or even souls won on the mission field? Not a word! No, Jesus said it all comes down to how we treated “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine.” In fact, he said that whatever we do to them, we do to him. In other words, we should see Jesus in the face of anyone who is in need. Again, my own thoughts follow in italics.
- I was hungry and you gave me something to eat . . . I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink . . . I needed clothes and you clothed me
. . . working two jobs, with paychecks so small I still can’t feed my family - I was a stranger and you invited me in
. . . a refugee seeking protection from danger . . . an immigrant seeking opportunity in a new land - I was sick and you looked after me
. . . unable to obtain quality health care for myself and my family; they want premiums way beyond what I can pay; and the drugs I need are much too expensive for my meager paycheck - I was in prison and you came to visit me
. . . when others had given up on me, and the prison system had thrown away the key
Jesus then declared, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
AND
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Not the government’s responsibility? Again, the government is people . . . us! Whether personally or through our elected officials, we are responsible to Jesus for how we treat those whom others have thrown away.
At the funeral of Baptist ethicist T. B. Maston in 1988, Jimmy Allen told of the time – when Jimmy was a student at Southwestern Seminary – that Dr. Maston asked him, if he knew that Jesus was going to be in Fort Worth that weekend, in the flesh, where would he find him? Jimmy was stumped. Dr. Maston’s answer? Jesus would be with someone who nobody else had noticed, who needed him.
We certainly should be acting on all of this personally, but we can do much through our elected officials to make better lives for those in the greatest need. And we should.
In the final post of this series, part 3, I ‘ll set forth some further thoughts about how Christ-followers might bring Christ’s values into the voting booth.
Go to: Part 1: The Beatitudes Part 3: What do Christ’s values have to do with government?