I’ve thought about this quite a bit recently: why wasn’t Jesus politically involved? Why didn’t Jesus speak out against the social ills of his culture? Why didn’t Jesus petition or confront the Roman government regarding certain vial, sinful practices? Why didn’t Jesus seek to make a number of cultural practices illegal for the sake of changing his culture?
During the time of Jesus, the Jewish territory was controlled by the Roman Empire. In a very real way the people were resident aliens, a people group living within a culture that was very different from there own, especially morally. It is widely known that the Roman society was a morally bankrupt one. Debauchery, lewdness, drunken orgies, and love feasts were common practice. Homosexuality and bestiality were openly practiced. In fact, children were seen as a needless burden and abortion and infanticide became commonplace. While not as sophisticated as our modern day practices, a crude form of abortion was conducted, which involved either killing the child outright or leaving him/her to die either to the elements (heat, cold, rain, etc…) or animals. In some cases, children were even sold into slavery.
So given the morally corrupt nature of the Roman culture, a culture in which the Jewish people lived, why didn’t Jesus speak out against these very sinful cultural problems? Why do the Gospels not record Jesus appealing to Caesar to put an end to these abominable practices? Why does he not petition the courts to change their practices regarding these social ills, especially when one of those members (Nicodemus) engages him in a dialogue of the Kingdom of Heaven and being born-again? In fact, the only place Jesus ever addresses the Roman Empire is when he was asked if it is right for God’s people to give their money in support of a vial, corrupt government. His response: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.”
Am I reading too much into Jesus obviously choosing not to confront or address the ruling government? Does it even matter whether or not Jesus sought to change a society through the ruling government of his time? Or maybe he’s trying to tell us something. Is there something we can learn from Jesus’ teachings on the Kingdom of Heaven, especially in relation to American Christian efforts of changing the American culture through government? Should Jesus’ lack of reliance on (not engagement with) the Roman government for culture change instruct us?
I’d be curious to hear some feedback on why you think Jesus didn’t protest or petion the government to address these very real cultural problems. Just so you know where I am NOT going in my conclusions here: I am not saying we shouldn’t engage with government or prophetically address our culture. But I do think Jesus had an alternative vision to current Christian engagement efforts…
be His,
Please see the clarification post that followed this one a few days later…
