Oh, my! Do you love the election cycles as much as I do? All the information and insight we receive thanks to the media and the campaigns of various candidates! Truely, we live in inspired times! 

My usual thing I do leading up to an election, in my case that would be the primary election in Ohio on March 19, is to do some research on the various candidates and issues on the ballot. But, more and more, I wonder why I bother to research at all. I mean, all the information you might need is on the commercials. 

On election day I was on the road and was listening to the channel I get the traffic information on. An ad came on the radio. It started by saying a candidate's name. The announcer let disgust drip off every syllable of the man's name. He went on to trash the candidate for crimes he had been charged with in a different state as well questionable political failures. I was a little alarmed to hear these things. My research had turned up some personal mistakes from decades ago, but he had been acquitted. This was new information and I was so glad to have found out before I cast my vote. Next was a commercial for a tire company and then an announcer began to extoll the virtues of a candidate. Without mentioning his name, the announcer told us how wonderful he was, a loving husband and father, a man who truly deserved our vote. The peaceful music in the background made you know this was a quality man. As the ad ended, the announcer said, "Good for Ohio, good for America." I was filled with pride! And then he finally spoke the candidate's name. It was the same name as the previous commercial! WHAT! How could this be?

Politics as usual. Every two years we are caught up in it. Every four years we have the presidential election. And every election, whether for city council or county commissioner or various national offices, are said to be the most consequential election of our time. Only doom and gloom results if you don't vote as I say.

Politics has always been around. Even in the days of absolute rule by a king there were politics. Behind the scenes there was scheming going on just to gain the king's ear. The book of Esther is full of political intrigue. The pages of the Bible and all history drip with political desire. We look at our time now and think that the world has never seen such turmoil. Why, our politics pale when compared to the Roman Empire and even, if you read your American history, our own past. The Burr-Hamilton duel in 1804 comes to mind. Our politics? Child's play. It is always ugly. 

Let's look at the first century Israel. The Pharisees, arch conservatives, facing off against the Sadducees, the liberals. The Scribes, who tended to go whichever way best suited them. Then you had the splinter groups; the Zealots and the Essenes. The Zealots were even more conservative than the Pharisees. They were militant. The Essenes felt they were above it all and went away to copy Scripture (it is to these folks we owe thanks to for the Dead Sea Scrolls). There was constant conflicts between them all. 

And then Jesus came along and all these groups joined together. Not to praise Jesus, but to hate Him. With a mere parable, He was able to cut to the core of their politics. Though they all hated each other, they were all fearful of Jesus. And so, they all formed a common bond. They met, they schemed, they weighed their options. And the more people began to follow Jesus, the more their options focused down. Finally, there was just one answer; Jesus had to die.

And He did and all those backroom deals paid off. Now they could get back to what they were good at; hating one another.

Except, the grave could not hold Him. Jesus arose! Hundreds of people saw Him! The leaders came up with lies (they were, after all, political animals). But it was too late to put the cork back in the bottle. 

We need Jesus again today in our politics. Not as someone to scorn and hate, but as One we can praise and worship. However, when Christians get just as political as the non-believers, do we gain? We often say, "He has good Christians values" but is that really enough? Do they really believe? 

Of course, go vote. But also pray. Turn that hate you might feel into love for these people. Then, and only then, will it be the most important election ever.

Blessings.