When asked a question about Jesus, and what political platform or party he would run on, the oh-so-fabulous NT Wright had the following to say:
This is of course an impossible question, like ‘If the sun were to rise in the west, would it be green or blue?’ In other words, by agreeing to the terms of the question you make it impossible to give an answer based on anything other than highly distorted speculation.
Jesus didn’t run for anything. He acted as if he were a different kind of ruler altogether, with a ‘kingdom’ that didn’t originate from the present world (otherwise, he said, his servants would fight to rescue him) but instead was meant FOR this present world, to transform and heal it. The present way we do politics and government is, alas, part of the problem, and he would have challenged it (its huge cost, its pretense of participation which is shamelessly manipulated by the media, its cult of personality, its ignoring, all too often, of the actual needs of the poor, etc. etc.) just as he challenged the power structures of his day.
The real question is, what sort of a cross would today’s system be intent on using to kill him?
Filed under: Jesus, Kingdom, NT Wright, Politics, Religion, other blogs
that is a great quote from wright.
sometimes i have wondered, what would Jesus preach on sunday morning? after all, He did used to teach in the temple, so what would he have to say on a sunday morning at your typical church? for some reason, i imagine he would share something that would seem immediately controversial or offensive. my hope would be that i would move from being offended, to being convicted and repenting.