How Would Jesus Vote?

The Christian Quandary of Legislating Morality

Let me first start off by saying I have no idea how Jesus would vote. I’m not even sure if he would vote, to be honest. Voting wasn’t something that Jesus ever had to think about. Government was not something he had a say in nor did any of his followers. Yes, he had a political activist in his inner core and another that worked for the government. Jesus did address politics from time to time, but I don’t see any way we can determine what Jesus would do in our current political system.

What I do know is that many people who follow Jesus truly want to know how they should vote. There are some folks who don’t see their vote as part of their faith. I couldn’t disagree more. All things that we do should come under the Lordship of Jesus. If Jesus truly is Lord of our lives then we want to do what we believe he is asking us to do. We are not blue or red, Elephant or Donkey, Republican or Democrat. We are followers of Jesus and that is always the priority.

We have very clear instructions from Jesus on what our job duty is for the time we have on this planet. It’s found at the very end of Matthew just before Jesus leaves this earth.

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18–20).

There is a lot there but we should concentrate on the priorities that Jesus set. First and foremost is to make disciples. That is our call. But we are not to make disciples of ourselves, but of Jesus. These guys spent 3+ years with Jesus and watched him do this. He took them places they didn’t want to go. He invited people they weren’t willing to talk to. He spurned religious leaders for a bleeding woman. He welcomed sinners and railed against the religious institution of the day. He protected women and children and prioritized those on the margins. He was harsh on the holy and compassionate on the castoffs. This was Jesus of Nazareth and this is who we are called to make disciples of. We must not forget this. This is who we are called to be.

We are to combine this priority of calling and contextualize for our day. Some things have changed. Our government system is different. The role of the church in society is different. The people that are left out by the system and by the church may have different issues. But some things are the same.

Jesus had to navigate both a societal culture and a religious culture that were at odds with one another. There was a clear chasm between the church and the world and morality was at the center of that split. The church could manage the religious affairs as long as they didn’t overstep their bounds. Jesus many times was caught between the two, being asked to choose sides. His loyalties were questioned. What stands out to me is that Jesus constantly chose people when forced to choose.

Jesus saves a woman caught in adultery from certain death. According the religious law, she was guilty and deserved death. But Jesus steps in on her behalf. He does not question the law, but instead appeals to compassion. Jesus turns the morality question on the accusers and when no one is left to accuse, Jesus chooses grace over law. The law still left in tact, but overcome by grace.

Over and over Jesus chooses grace over law without renouncing the law. Jesus’ issue is not with the law, it is with the people that enforce the law but cannot keep it themselves. Jesus brings grace to a people that did not understand the concept. Jesus reveals to us that the law is what separates us from God and he steps in to bridge the gap. The religious leaders fought him to his death to keep the chasm open and I fear we are doing the same.

Even since the days of Jesus, Christians (at least in the West) have been trying to force the world to abide by their moral standards. Many Christians have spent their lives trying to pass laws to force society to adhere to their moral standards that they themselves cannot keep. In 2016, 80% of white Evangelicals voted for a man with virtually no morality so that he could lead the charge to legislate morality. Why is it so important to Christians for the rest of the world to adhere to their moral standards, especially when they can’t do it themselves?

And how do we decide what moral standards should become law? How do we choose what God considers punishable and what He would let slide? God says divorce is punishable by death (if man divorces wife and marries another woman that is adultery and adultery = death). That seems like something God cares about. But there is no law against divorce, probably because Christians divorce as much as the rest of society.

But there is a bigger question that we need to answer and be accountable for. Why do Christians choose the way of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day instead of the way of Jesus? It was the religious leaders that tried to force society to live according to their moral law. But it was Jesus that revealed that the law was something we could not keep and bridged the gap with grace. Jesus believed that the law could not save us and only by grace could we be made right with God. Why have we chosen law over grace?

Grace is the answer to every moral question. It is not the threat of punishment of law, it is the freedom of grace that draws the heart of the sinner to God. When did the church lose this fundamental and essential belief? When did we decide to use legislation over grace? And more importantly, why? Do we believe that God is not big enough to deal with the destruction of our bad choices? Because we certainly believe it for ourselves. We fully believe that God’s grace covers our personal sin. That is what we prayed for at the very beginning of our faith. That in every way we fall short in the past, present or future, that God will cover that with His grace. But we don’t believe God will do that for others?

We are not just hypocrites, we are heretics. Our understanding of God’s grace is so distorted that it is unrecognizable to us. We have thrown it out in favor trying to enforce a moral law we ourselves cannot keep. We have become the aspiring religious leaders of our day. Jesus’ harshest words were reserved for the religious leaders and they are words we need to familiarize ourselves with because they are now for us.

We must remember who we are. We are sinners saved by grace, not by law. We want a law to follow because we don’t want to admit we are not in control. But we must surrender again to the truth that all of us need grace.

Jesus brought grace into a world that only knew law. That grace brought you and I into the Kingdom of God. Now we must become purveyors of that same grace with our lives. That is our calling — to be bringers of grace in all things including how you vote. No matter who you choose to vote for make it because of how it impacts the people around you and how it reveals grace to the world.