Jesus, Matthew, Simon and Trump

I have recently been working on a project in which I conduct surveys about issues that are deemed most important in a given community. It has been interesting to say the least, and I believe I am gaining some useful tools for application in the local church.  One of the most fascinating phenomena has been the reaction of “Christians” concerning our current president.

While national politics is not part of the focus of the surveys, I let people talk about what they feel matters most.  In the course of a couple of surveys, I received two radically different reactions from two people who would both, in some way, identify as Christian.  In many ways each of these people represent a much larger segment of our society and I suspect the church.

First, a middle-aged woman launches into a diatribe about how as “Christians” we must support a specific policy.  As she gathered steam her vitriol turned specifically to the President.  As this point her language became laced with profanity.  She didn’t drop the F-bomb, but that was the sole exclusion.  The profanity reached a crescendo then spilled over on to members of the President’s cabinet.  A few interviews later a young professional man shared with much passion, but not profanity, his disdain for those who opposed the President and especially those of the President’s own party that lacked the courage to stand up for and with him.  While his language was more polite he was no less hostile to the opposition.

Do not imagine this is an isolated occasion.  While working on a different project I listened to a similar attack on the President specifically and all things Republican in general by a dear, elderly, church lady.  She never used profanity, but I got the sense that those words were near the surface.  On a separate occasion, I listened to another woman of nearly identical demographics refer to Democrats as “Demoncrats” and sharing her convictions that they are all inspired by the spiritual powers of darkness.

I am not advocating that our faith should not shape our convictions or that all Christians should have a singular position on all issues.  But I am distressed with the way we often allow our political convictions to interrupt our Lord’s command to “love one another”.  Often in social media “Christians” will post things in such a way that it appears they want to provoke a bitter conflict.  In Hebrews, as the end draws closer we are commanded to, “provoke one another to love and good works.”  Comments that are meant to cause a person to hate any part of the political spectrum clearly fail to follow that command.

Some would argue that the divisions are too great and the differences so deep that we must accept within the body of Christ this kind of division.  I would disagree.  In your imagination, go back to the moment when for the first time Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector sat together as Jesus’ disciples.  The Zealot, the sworn enemy of Rome, a terrorist who would advocate violent revolution if it had a chance of success, a man who may have been part of acts of terror, sits down with the collaborator, the traitor to his own people the lackey and boot-licker of Caesar and his hated thug army, who extracted by force the very livelihood of his own people to send the money to a godless, pagan, brutal despot.  How did they look at each other? What words did they mutter when the master was not near?  Did they suddenly embrace each other and strike up in perfect harmony of Kum Ba Yaw?  Were there occasions that Andrew or Thaddeus stood between them to keep it from coming to blows?  Did Peter have the sword because Matthew insisted that the Zealot could not be trusted?  Did Judas carry the money because the of the Zealot’s protestations?

The happy band of Jesus’ 12 disciples may not be as happy as we imagine from Sunday school lessons and movie depictions. There were big personalities, strong convictions and life long prejudices in this group.  But in this context Jesus says, “By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  Did Jesus look from the Zealot to the Tax collector as He said that?  “Here is how this hate filled world will know that you are my follower/friend.  If in spite of your differences and disagreements you really love each other.” 

I am stunned at the hate I hear expressed from the left and the right; I am especially heart broken when I hear it from “Christians”.  I am at times discouraged to despair at the hostility I see in church fights.  But then I think of the transformation that occurred in the life of the Zealot and the Tax Collector.  Tradition tells us they both went to Persia as evangelists; Matthew later going on to Ethiopia.  What if during that first mission they traveled together as partners in mission and ministry? Did Simon break down in tears when he got word that his dear Matthew was stabbed to death in Africa?  If the body of Christ today began to manifest radical love, even if we didn’t always agree, I think the world would notice and might believe we are the Lord’s disciples.