Transmission

BIBLICAL PRESENTATION – GOD AND POLITICS (for Marble Collegiate Church)
By j. Snodgrass

NARRATOR : So there’s an election coming up, and all the candidates are falling over themselves to let us know what they believe, what’s their favorite hymn…WWJVF? Who would Jesus vote for?

So I thought we could ask some of the Hebrew Prophets, see what they had to say about political issues of their day…which, believe it or not, are pretty much exactly the same as now. Should we stand by while the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Should we go to war? Does God want us to have a king at all?

Naturally, all of the prophets are different, and yet just about all of them had some things in common. It was the prophet’s job to stand against the king, and probably die for it. What do you call a prophet who agrees with the king, who is liked by everyone, who says things are fine? A false prophet. What does king Ahab call the prophet Elijah? Troubler of Israel (1 Kings 18:17). Oh my enemy (1 Kings 21:20). And three times in one day, Ahab sent fifty soldiers to kill him (2 Kings 1). That might be why in so many cases, when the Lord calls to say “You shall be my prophet,” the reply is, almost invariably…

PROPHETS : Oh no, I’m not the one you’re looking for.

NARRATOR : In the tenth century before the common era, what‚Äôs now known as Israel was a group of tribes doing the best they could to raise crops and animals. But sea-pirates called the Philestines showed up on the west coast and started working their way inward, sacking villages, setting up cities, and ruling over the populations. So, the Israelites decided what they needed was a military chieftain to raise up an army and fight. The prophet Samuel warned the Israelites that a king might not be in their best interests…

SAMUEL : “This is what the king‚Ķwill do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands‚Ķand others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards‚Ķand give them to his attendants‚Ķ.He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you.” (1 Samuel 8:10-18, NIV)

NARRATOR : …Sound familiar? This is pretty much the standard contract between population and ruler, to this day. Saul, the first chieftain, was cool – he beat the Philestines, but didn’t interfere much with the populace. David was famously David, but Solomon made all of Samuel’s predictions come true and more – taxation, forced labor, the draft, and a brand of inequality the Israelites hadn’t known since Egypt.

Let’s jump forward a couple centuries to Hosea, most hated and unpopular of the prophets, whose hostile words are never preached upon…which in prophetic terms would probably be an A++. The Lord showed up and commanded that Hosea marry a prostitute, as a metaphor for Israel whoring its covenant for material goods and golden idols. Hosea didn’t have a very high opinion of politicians…

HOSEA : “They utter mere words. With empty oaths they make covenants; so litigation springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.” (Hosea 10:4, NRSV)

NARRATOR : No really, Hosea, you can…speak frankly here.

HOSEA : “You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your power and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed.” (Hosea 10:13-14, NRSV)

NARRATOR : …Could you write that on a cake? For our election-day party? No? Okay, then let’s turn to the prophet Micah, known to be one of the most amiable. Got a friendly word for us, Micah? The topic is politics.

MICAH : Now hear this, [you] rulers…who [hate] justice and pervert all equity, Who build up [the nation] with bloodshed [and] iniquity [and] give judgement for bribes…Because of you, [the nation] shall be plowed like a field…become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest. (Micah 3:9-12, NIV, NRSV)

NARRATOR : Have the three of you ever considered starting a rap-group together? You could call it…Prophet Enemy, Straight Outa’ Jordan. Alright, I see we’re running out of time here, and I would like to leave you with some sort of cheerful message… Jesus? You here? Got any kind words about politics?

JESUS : The devil led [me up a mountain in the desert] and in an instant showed [me] all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to [me], “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I will give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” [I] answered him, “It is written, ‘worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (Luke 4:5-8, NRSV)

NARRATOR : Thanks, but seriously now, Jesus. Something positive? What about peace?

JESUS : Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. (Luke 12:51, NIV)

NARRATOR : Alright, so I guess you’re not going to tell us who to vote for. Could you at least tell us who might win tomorrow’s dog-races? …And it sounds like we’ve lost our trans-temporal communication-link with Jesus. Alright. I guess the moral is that we have been commanded to serve only God, but have chosen the modern democratic system instead…much peace, equality, and security may it bring.

A final note, to those who wish to express their dissatisfaction by boycotting the vote, just remember that’s exactly what those Washington fat-cats want you to do.

[This ending turned out to be a little too “harsh on democracy,” so I re-wrote the ending from after Jesus’s “Devil” story, which was presented as follows…]

NARRATOR : Thanks, but seriously now, Jesus. We live in a large and complex world, and we need leaders down here to look out for us. Is it possible to reconcile serving only God, while still supporting our leaders’ efforts to make the world a better place?

JESUS : “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:25)

NARRATOR : Caesar didn’t need anybody’s vote. But there was something Caesar did expect that was far more important – Caesar was to be revered as either a god, or the son of a god. What Jesus is saying here, if I may be so bold, is that the laws of Caesar – taxation and so on – should be kept, as long as one does not give him the inward allegiance that is reserved for God alone. And when the day is done, all the gold that Caesar has shaken from the populace is just trash, the false signs of respect are empty, and Caesar has nothing. Jesus, if you would say it one more time…

JESUS : “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:25)

NARRATOR : So, render unto Caesar what will rust and fade be forgotten. And render unto God what is sacred and eternal.

Posted by: j. Snodgrass | Tags: Jesus, politics, skit