And the children will lead us

Van Jones, a political commentator on CNN, penned an opinion piece in which he claims “Jesus would be proud” of the children leading protests calling for gun control. He even quotes scripture, placing into context Jesus’ words to receive the children, because the “kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matt 19:14)

(Caution: This blog post contains sarcasm and painful truth interwoven to prove a point. You’ve been warned.)

But would Jesus approve? If America listened to Jesus, would He tell us that He approves of the students’ protest against guns?

Let’s ask Him.

Wait. Before I ask Jesus’ opinion I’d better be certain He can hear me. Where am I and is He allowed in here so that I can ask? Ok, I’m not in a school. I’m not in a government building or in the courtroom. I’m not in a bakery in Seattle or on The View and I’m not at the Olympics. I should be fine, right? Or I could wait until Sunday morning and ask Him at church, but since I only go once every few weeks I’m not sure He’s allowed in there anymore either.

Ok, since we won’t allow Jesus to interact with us in places where we grow and govern, let’s assume He left us some sort of guidebook. Something where He related everyday events in a manner in which we can extrapolate the meaning and apply lessons regardless of changing times. I checked with Merriam-Webster to see if I could find a name for this guidebook and found the definition “a publication that is preeminent especially in authoritativeness or wide readership” – sounds perfect. So, we’ll call this guidebook a “bible.”

Lo and behold with a little digging I found one of these bibles. It contains interesting passages about murder and divorce, forgiveness and patience. I even found the passage from Mr. Jones’ article sandwiched between a prohibition on divorce (we don’t have that problem here) and cautionary tale about worshipping money (nope – America doesn’t do that either).

But I digress; I’m supposed to be talking about Jesus’ approval, or lack thereof, of the children’s protest. In Matthew, Jesus says, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matt 6:1, NIV) Hmm. That doesn’t fit the narrative so let’s find another one. Surely there must be something in here to support standing up against tyranny and defending those helpless against bad laws…Ah, here we go. Psalm 94:16 asks, “Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?”

But how do we reconcile that against Romans, which states to “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” (Rom 13:1-3, ESV) How do we know what Jesus himself would have condoned had He been faced with a similar situation? How do we know if Jesus would have supported protest against authority that caused pain and suffering? I mean, it’s not like He was crucified for His stance, right?

Seriously, though. I’ve rambled a bit in this blog entry purposely because this is not an easy question nor should it be. Van Jones makes the mistake of selectively extracting two verses from the Bible and skewing their context, much like I’ve done here. Jesus wasn’t saying we should listen to the children regarding complex policy decisions. He was saying we should not be guilty of destroying innocence, because undeterred childlike love is the perfect example of how we should love Him. How does that in any way make Jesus a supporter of political protest when by its very nature politics is divisive and counter to perfect love? I could be wrong, and you are definitely welcome in correcting me, but I can’t imagine Jesus joining the hateful rhetoric spewing from either side of the gun control debate. Frankly, Jesus would rather the world not need guns – ever! Jesus would also rather not have had to be crucified to right our selfish wrongs. (Luke 22:42) By the way, the Psalmist in the passage above was referencing God as the only one capable of standing up against tyranny.

So maybe Mr. Jones and I should each take a page from the Bible and not ascribe to any earthly cause the opinion of Christ. Maybe we should focus on getting back to love, getting back to caring about our fellow human kind enough to give our own life for it, ignoring offense and giving forgiveness freely, and understanding the position of pain from which hate originates. So what if the voice of hate is louder than my little blog. I’ve read the book. I know how the story ends.

And if I’m going to select a single verse to quote in the aftermath of tragedy, maybe it should be one with a very simple meaning.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV)

You can find the full text of Van Jones’ article at the following link.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/opinions/a-childrens-crusade-jesus-would-be-proud-of-van-jones/index.html

(Photo courtesy of Knowing-Jesus.com)