To say these are divided times would be an understatement. Most of us anxiously awaited 2021 if for nothing more than a mental reprieve, but so far this year has started off with a bang! Hearing the news of this past week has been nothing less than exhausting. I purposely avoided my social media account because I did not want to be pulled into the predictable polarizing nature of the conversations.
Oftentimes when we find ourselves in a tense situation we feel the pressure to choose a side. We don’t really do well operating in gray areas. I was raised in a very opinionated home and when I found my voice I would take the opposing side 9/10 times. As I grew older I found that my blind allegiance to a view point was not really informed by faith and reason, but largely shaped by particular persons within a community. Don’t get me wrong, we all are informed by our communities and it is necessary. If we just relied on our own judgement we could easily find ourselves way off course, but it is also too easy to fall into groupthink and lose a sense of reality when everyone around us is parroting the same thing with no basis outside of ourselves.
Jesus found himself in a world that was forcing Him to take sides. If we think times are tense in our country, imagine a time in history when even among ‘civilized’ nations, a “peaceful transition” of power wasn't a concept. Every year, multiple revolutionary attempts had to be squashed in order to stay in power. It was in the midst of this Jesus enters. He had rough waters to navigate and a lot of pressure on His shoulders. He was THE representative of the Godhead to humanity. He came to communicate to us how God desired us to live. He came in the middle of geopolitical madness and addressed the true source of the problem. The human heart. Jesus didn’t draw a line in the sand between one nation and the next. He drew a line in the sand against darkness and light. Under Jesus, ones birth, political affiliation or deeds do not disqualify you from the opportunity to choose the Kingdom of Light.
Jesus was confronted by religious leaders in addressing a woman caught in the very act of sin. She had broken the law and it would be rewarded by death. The religious leaders that were all too happy to execute judgement at a moment's notice had an opportunity to reflect as Jesus began writing in the sand (Joh 8:1-11). We aren't sure what He wrote but whatever He did made them pause. These men that were quick to judge another, hypocritically left the other perpetrator out of the proceedings (it takes two). Judgement was already skewed in this picture. The men themselves likely committed sins against God and their fellow man that were never brought to account. Jesus stood in the position to rightfully dole out judgement. That women had broken the law and deserved what was coming to her, but so did the men. In keeping with the law, Jesus should have picked up a stone choosing the side of the religious leaders, but he didn’t. Jesus instead allowed both parties a moment to choose mercy and to walk away from a path of destruction. He showed them another way.
In the Old Testament, as Joshua got ready to battle the evil dwellers in the land he encountered an ‘angel’ of the Lord. He asked the angel, “Whose side are you on”? The obvious answer should have been their side, after all they were God’s chosen people fighting with God’s blessing. The answer the angel gave was, “Neither.” He made it clear that as much as he was there to help, he did not serve Joshua’s cause, but the Lord’s (Jos 5:13-15). King David, a man said to be after God’s own heart, had to be rebuked multiple times by servants of God and reminded that he had chosen his own way instead (2 Sam 12, 2 Sam 24). In the lesson of the good Samaritan, it was the pagan who was commended by God, not the ones with the right birth and titles (Lk 10:25-37). Righteous people get it wrong too, even when they think they are right in their own eyes (Jdg 17:6;21:25).
At the end of the day, as Christians we need to remember whose voice we should be listening to and serving. As much as God defended Israel against many, He also allowed others to dominate them under His sovereign hand. God isn’t looking out for some, he is looking out for all (Jon 4:2, Joh 3:16, 2 Pe 3:9, 1 Tim 2:4). Jesus’s vision for humanity transcends man made lines and partisan boxes. It’s not about one nation, one church, political party, or individual. We all to often ask Jesus to choose sides when we should be taking a moment to pause and see where He is, not where we want Him to be. He isn’t an American, Democrat-Republican, or Evangelical (you can replace those adjectives with many others). He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God that existed before time and will exist long after these social titles are relevant. Our good God stands objectively above the noise, across the lines and beckons all to come to His side.