Today is the last Sunday in the liturgical year and the
day on which we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This got me thinking about what kind of king
Jesus is, compared to worldly kings and leaders. The bible is full of stories about kings who
were chosen to lead their people, but failed in one way or another, leading to
the downfall of the kingdom. Perhaps the
power that goes along with kingship corrupts people or detaches them from an
understanding of what is really best for everyone. The attributes of Christ, Our King, are quite
different from the trappings of royalty as we know it in the worldly
realm. Jesus was the most powerful
person to have ever walked the earth, but He lived a simple, humble life and
never used His power to benefit Himself.
He was so meek that He accepted torture and death without complaint, but
rather with a prayer that His captors be forgiven for not knowing what they
were doing.
The hallmarks of Jesus Kingship were truth, mercy,
forgiveness, and love, always in the service of others. Christ, our king, came to reveal the truth
about God Our Father and almost everything He said and did was
countercultural. He forgave sinners,
rather than repudiating, banishing, or punishing them. His parable of the prodigal son and His
treatment of the woman caught in adultery, reveal a King with the mercy and
courage to put love and forgiveness ahead of convention and retribution.
Compare this to the motives and actions of worldly kings
and leaders who never seem to be satisfied with what they have. They tend to want more and more power and
authority, whether they lived in ancient times or more recently with titles
like Premier, Prime Minister, or President.
After the Czar was overthrown in Russia, Communist leaders invaded and
imprisoned one country after another, creating the USSR. Not satisfied with the Communist Bloc in
Europe, they set their sights on Central and South America where they would
have surely taken over that continent, if it had not been for President Kennedy
standing up to them over the Cuban missile crisis, and Ronald Reagan boldly
supporting anti-communist forces in South America.
Throughout Europe, many counties have now elected leaders
who are proponents of Socialism. The notion
of the benevolent king has given way to the false promises of the welfare
state. Having shed all attachments to
its Christian heritage, Europe is consciously attempting to become a secular
state, advocating equality, even if it means abandoning morality and redistributing
wealth. In doing so, it has devalued and
in some cases abandoned the virtues that led to Europe’s greatest successes in
the past. In the process, Europe is
creating a nanny state in which people believe they are entitled to economic
security, regardless of their personal effort and without the necessity of
acquiring the virtues that in the past, led to success.
This past week, we all heard and saw recordings of
President Kennedy’s many speeches, including his inaugural when he famously
said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your
country.” He advocated personal effort
and responsibility, not government-imposed equality. In another speech on the economy, JFK called
for personal and government budget cuts, coupled with tax reductions for
corporations and individuals, in order to create more jobs and ultimately more
revenue for the federal government. He
was clearly NOT a tax-and-spend Democrat. But of course, people have selective memory
and they don’t seem to realize that JFK’s brother Teddy was just about opposite
in his views, taking a much more liberal and progressive approach to equality
through health and welfare benefits, funded by ever-increasing taxes.
So here we are approaching the end of 2013 and the
beginning of President (king?) Obama’s 6th year in office. One of the hallmarks of his reign seems to be
untruth. He signed several Executive
Orders which he subsequently ignored and violated, having promised no federal
funding for abortion, and strong conscience clauses to protect religious
freedom. He changed his views on gay
marriage to the extent of working to overturn (rather than uphold) the Defense
of Marriage Act. He “refused to
negotiate with a gun to his head,” when Republicans asked for modest changes in
the Affordable Care Act, knowing full well that the promises he had made about “keeping
your coverage” and “saving $2500 a year on your healthcare costs,” were outright
lies. But perhaps the most disturbing
thing about our current President’s leadership is that he is doing his very
best to “fundamentally change America.”
Like the European leaders who are driving toward a secular state and
socialism, President Obama is now attempting to use his power to enforce his
own brand of secularism on everyone, whether they agree with him or not on the
issues of abortion, contraception and gay marriage. He has taken dead aim at the moral
underpinnings of American society, the very morals and values that made us a
great nation, and he wants them banished, claiming that those who oppose him “are
on the wrong side of history.”
Ten or fifteen years ago I ran across a little book titled
simple, Jesus, CEO. It was a book about the leadership attributes
of Jesus and how to use them as a guide for leading a business organization with
love and compassion. Although not a
great book, I kept it in my office as a reminder that the most valuable asset
in our organization was the people we worked with, and the more we could help
people grow and succeed in their own right, the more successful our company
would be. I have no doubt that President
Obama means well, but rather than helping Americans cultivate virtues and
success in their lives, he seems to be pandering to people’s desire for
absolute freedom from any moral restraint.
Democracy simply does not work unless society has a common understanding
and commitment to objective Truth and agreement on the difference between Right
and Wrong. For example, instead of
advocating human dignity, we debase and devalue it. The new Common Core curriculum undermines
parental guidance and advocates sexual freedom (more on that in a future
blog). Obamacare forces people to
violate their religious convictions under penalty of law, and contains an
explosion of new government funding for abortion. Even the Obamacare ads aimed at young people,
are an affront to morality, encouraging promiscuity: “Lets Get Physical, OMG he’s
hot… all I have to worry about is getting him between the sheets.” Another ad boldly
states that “If you break your arm doing a keg stand, you’re covered.” Think I’m making this up? Just google “Obamacare
ads.”
So what I’m hoping is going on here is a case of what
Hans Christian Anderson described in his classic tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes.
The emperor thought he had these wonderful new clothes that were
invisible to the “hopelessly stupid” and the incompetent, when in reality, the
Emperor had been swindled. Obamacare is
no magical solution to our nation’s healthcare problems and the people opposing
it are neither stupid nor incompetent. Moreover,
our country is headed in the wrong direction and hopefully we will wake up in time
to put ourselves back on the right track. Electing leaders who respect and emulate
Christ the King will be a start.
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