Are humility and electability in the world of politics mutually exclusive? In other words, can someone running for public office exhibit humility – being utterly human, and therefore fallible -- and still expect to win an election? Jesus never had to run for office, although He did seem to have trouble convincing others, while He was on earth, that He was God and that others should follow His lead. This must have bothered Him, don’t you think? In fact, ‘they want to kill me’, He as much said when He prayed fervently in the garden (See Him shown here, on His knees – an utterly humble position for prayer – in this masterpiece work of art Christ in Gethsemane, by 19th Century artist Heinrich Hoffman.). So, it begs the question: If Jesus could be humble and still be God, can I as His follower afford to depart from His model, despite what others might think? Re-read Philippians 2:1-8 if you aren’t convinced of His attitude. And, while you’re at it, reexamine the 1st and 2nd Commandments, and think about whether humility should be an integral part of one’s humanity, even in leaders. He’s the one and only God (I’m not), and I dare not treat something or some other person (except the true God) as worthy of godlike admiration. All of us on the planet are mistake-makers, so be careful you don’t ‘worship the ground he/she (just another human) walks upon’.
God in His infinite wisdom warned His people not to entrust themselves to a human leader, a king. ‘Why do you want such a man – don’t you know what he’s capable of doing?’ (1 Samuel 8) Despite the warnings that Samuel delivered, the people did not relent in their demand…and you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day’ (v. 18). Saul emerged as the first king, and how long was it before the people were singing their greater praises for David, instead? (1 Samuel 18) Pride, anger, and bloodlust – humanity in its fullest flower, someone might say cynically – were Saul’s characteristics from that point on, attributes that his own son Jonathan (1 Samuel 20: 30-34) protested, earning for himself the king’s wrath. David would prove to be a much different and more worthy king, yet he too suffered from his human foibles, including violating several of the Ten Commandments in the episode with Bathsheba (adultery, murder, lying; 2 Samuel 11). But, real regret and confession were also in David’s character. He knew and admitted his sins. Would we today, some 30 centuries later, respond kindly, empathetically to such a leader? What has misled our image of leadership versus humanity? Is the public’s appetite for iconic figures so robust that it cannot endure true humans in the spotlight of public office?
David was certainly not immune from mistakes, even if he was a beloved leader. Or, was it perhaps because of his humility and his admittance of mistakes that we today can look back and appreciate him? He was someone, though his men often offered it, who would accept no ‘hero worship’. His men once risked their lives just to get him some water, because they revered him so much. And yet, note David’s response: So the three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord. “Far be it from me, Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it. (2 Sam. 23:16-17) David must have had the 2nd Commandment ringing in his ears loudly enough, so that he couldn’t possibly allow his own men to make him into an idol. How do leaders or would-be leaders today respond to adulation? Watch the political conventions, if you can stand them, just to see. See how they might invite hero worship, or whether they might understand that problem-solving and real work in governing takes cooperation and behind-the-scenes, tedious and unexciting work by many people to consummate legislation and honor campaign pledges.
How might the misguided ideal for perfection (or, at least near-perfection) in American leadership be transformed to reflect a more accurate and ‘Christian-worthy’ notion, one that acknowledges everyone’s humanity and the necessity for humility in public figures? Perhaps it would be worthwhile to open your Webster’s, or better yet your bible, and re-examine the definition or examples of some words:
· human= representative of or susceptible to the sympathies and frailties of human nature (definition 3b, according to my online dictionary)
· humility= freedom from pride or arrogance
· loyal= faithful to a private person to whom faithfulness is due (i.e. God, and no one else, is due the loyalty like I must have for Him)
· immunity=(in medical parlance) a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products. (In humanity’s struggle with mistake-making, is anyone immune in a spiritual or everyday sense without Jesus? We all know the answer – Romans 3:23, is just one of the scriptures that reminds us of this immutable truth, one that is perhaps the most basic for humans to understand. No one should be elevated above others or given a free pass when it comes to abiding by the laws that govern and provide for civil-legal standards of a people, except through God’s specific act of grace upon that person (like David, after his Bathsheba episode).
Finally, here’s an unsettling piece written by a contemporary Christian author and editor-in-chief of a magazine (Christianity Today) that addresses all sorts of issues – including the politics of our age -- that are relevant to 21st Century Christianity in the United States and around the world. He asks an incisive question at the end, which I paraphrase here – ‘Who do our kids/the next generation believe that we older adults think is God, and do our lives model for them that Jesus is Lord?…What Hath Jerusalem To Do With Mar-a-Lago? | Christianity Today
See information on the masterpiece artwork Christ in Gethsemane here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_in_Gethsemane.jpg …This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1929.
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