political drug season over

We just went through an election, and while I am as politically fascinated and informed as anyone you will meet, I hate election time more than most anything else.  Politics is a drug that sucks people in then causes them to exhibit the worst of themselves, myself unfortunately included. I prefer not to make a fool of myself, and I prefer not to have my opinions of others I respect damaged as well.

The one thing that I have been thinking of lately is the assertion that I often hear that it is a citizen's, and more so a Christian's, duty to vote.  I have also heard this couched in terms like thinking about who Jesus would have voted for.

Almost every conversation Jesus had was striking, but one that especially sticks out to me is his interaction with Pilate when the Jewish leadership was angling to get him crucified.  The charge they brought was that Jesus threatened the political structure that was in place.  He was to be the king of the Jews!  However, if Jesus' threat to Roman rule was even a remote possibility Pilate had every reason to want to punish, destroy, and make an example of Jesus.  After Pilate's personal interaction with Jesus, however, he took every opportunity available to a cowardly ruler such as himself to avoid sending Jesus to the cross.  Pilate had a reputation for brutality, but he was the one trying to save Jesus.

That speaks to me more than any other interaction Jesus had regarding what his political bent was.  More than Jesus paying the temple tax or explaining that we give to God and Caesar what they are owed, this points to how unimportant in the scheme of things politics was to him.  The one person who should have been the most concerned about a politically-motivated leader rallied to save him.  Based on what I have read from Scripture like this, not only do I not believe that it is our civic duty to vote, I do not believe that Christ would have voted either.

I will do a bit of an about face, though.  I am not Christ.  While getting involved with politics may have interfered with Jesus' ministry, that does not mean that I should not vote or be involved in politics.  There are worthy issues that Christians have addressed through the ballot box.  I say that with trepidation, however.  Political involvement and self-righteousness go hand-in-hand and both are addictive drugs that can very easily interfere with a Christian's purpose of being on this earth.  I have such a hard time avoiding both every election cycle.