News
and Opinion
What
Would Jesus Do?
Forrest Church
November
15, 2000
When a trap door
swings, many, if not most, Americans turn to God. We read the scriptures.
We pray. We ask for an answer to the often impossible question 'Why?"
Knowing our weaknesses, we seek an authority beyond ourselves to help
us decide what we should do.
Both George W.
Bush and Albert Gore are devout Christians. You can scoff, if you wish,
at Governor Bush saying that Jesus is his favorite philosopher and at
Vice President Gore occasionally wearing a bracelet that asks WWJD?
("What would Jesus do?), but such scoffing is unfair.
Governor Bush is
a far finer man than his opponents give him credit for. He is a good
and faithful father, son and husband. He is an honest, unpretentious
man, and has served both his state and his nation well.
Also (and we should
think of requiring this of all our leaders), he has survived a personal
crisis, an addiction to alcohol. At the age of 40, he faced down the
demons that were devouring him. As all sober alcoholics know, this takes
both remarkable strength and deep humility. Demonstrating both, George
Bush turned, again without pretension, to religion to help sustain him
through good times and bad.
Vice-President
Gore is also a splendid father, son and husband. He too is a profoundly
faithful man. People may make fun of him for his seriousness, but we
should all respect anyone who has worked as hard as he as, regardless
of his advantages, to become so thoughtful and insightful.
Al Gore too went
through a personal crisis. His son almost died, and his life changed.
Though he may occasionally wear his religion on his wrist, he never
wears it on his sleeve. A devout and good man, Al Gore has the character
and determination to be a fine president.
As with many Americans,
both George Bush and Al Gore turn to Jesus in times of trouble. This
is one such time.
So what would Jesus
do? He lived in a very different era. His thoughts were tempered by
the exigencies and particularities of his times. But many of his teachings
translate today. If they had not, Christianity would long since have
passed into the history books.
If I were either
of the two candidates, these would be the scriptures I would turn to.
Many of Jesus'
teachings are too hard for us to follow all the time, but the obvious
and most difficult that comes to mind with respect to this election
is "If he asks for your coat, give him your cloak also."
This doesn't quite
work, because it speaks to the relation between haves and have-nots.
But the spirit is clear, and, right now, a little bit of generosity
would go a long way.
More directly significant
is the paradox, "Give and you shall receive." This both generous
and self-serving injunction has worked at least twice in our history.
Having lost the electoral count and then conceded the presidency, two
popular count winners, Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland, won the
next time around. Not only that, they were more successful and honored
presidents than were their predecessors.
If this election
continues in the courts and threatens to stalemate our system, "Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you," is as good advice
as anyone has to offer.
But we must not
forget the wisdom of Jesus' parable of the woman and the unjust judge.
She continues to press her case and finally prevails. The judge finally
concedes that "because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant
her justice." Jesus says, "Listen to what the unjust judge
says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him
day and night."
As always with
the Bible, there is a proof text for almost anything you may wish to
prove. But moving beyond the letter to the spirit, Jesus clearly comes
down on the side of self-giving, of loving others, even our enemies,
as we love ourselves.
As the two candidates
listen to their advisors and lawyers, I pray that they will take a little
time for spiritual insight, time out to return to the source of their
deeper faith.
Remember Solomon's
judgement. He proposed to divide the baby two women claimed was theirs.
One woman immediately ceded her claim, in order to save the child. The
other accepted the decision. Solomon awarded the child to his true mother.
© Forrest Church 2000
