Jesus for President! What do you think? One morning in the midst of the political disarray that is slamming our country like a perfect storm I found solace as I read about Jesus washing the feet of His disciples in John 13. The Creator/King got down on His knees, picked up stinking dirty feet and washed them clean with a humility that shouts of another world’s love. This visual got me wondering what it would be like if Jesus was running for President.

Jesus wouldn’t fit into the establishment that is for sure. On Passover night as he was busy washing feet the city’s religious power brokers were doing back alley deals filled with bribes and out right lies to keep their position secure and the status-quo satisfied. The fact that Jesus even washes Judas’s feet, his betrayer, the disciple filled with Satan’s rage, further illustrates how Jesus just wouldn’t fit in. Jesus portrays a sharp contrast to how the political machine moves today with smear campaigns and highly personal attacks.

I smiled to myself as I thought about Jesus for President and the men He invited to be with Him in that upper room to share His last meal. This was a group of nobodies lacking political clout and experience, yet these were the ones He selected to advance His kingdom agenda. Jesus chose men and women the world would call foolish to confound the wise and the political elites (I Cor. 1:27ff.).

As I walked through John 13 what struck me the most about Jesus’ qualifications for President was His security. He could take the attacks, betrayals, and ruthless blows because He knew who He was and whom He belonged to:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. (vs. 3)

It was His security in His Father’s love that made Him the perfect public servant. Abba’s Love was all Jesus needed in life; no praise of men, no power trips or financial success could come close to the fullness of His Father’s love. A love that would lead Jesus to the cross so sinners like you and me could find an open door into the Father’s arms of love. This indescribable love is able to defeat our deepest insecurities and fears for our families, the future, and our political establishments.

After washing feet this perfect leader got up off His knees joins His disciples eating the Passover and gives His political kingdom agenda to bring hope to a lost and hurting world:

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you…Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (vs. 15,17). 

Jesus’ solution to the systemic evil in our world is to serve as He served by laying down His life for His enemies out of a love that flows from the Father above.

In all reality if Jesus were living today there is no way He would be considered as a Presidential candidate, or for any office at all. His platform is too radical, too life changing, and is counter our self-saturated culture. However Jesus got the 1 vote that mattered the most and that was a YES from His Father who made Him King of Kings and Lord over all the rulers of the world. Jesus has my vote!!!

On the morning of July 7^th I was reading Psalm 73 and then later in the day I was alerted to the violent eruption in Dallas. Here again was yet another report depicting a world hemorrhaging with pain and violence. I went back to Psalm 73 that evening and thought about the Psalmists honest struggle with the injustice and evil that seemed to flourish while the followers of God floundered,

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked, (Psalm 73: 2-3). 

And the more the author thinks about the apparent prevailing of the wicked the more depressed he becomes:

All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning…When I tried to understand all this it was oppressive to me, (Psalm 73:14,16).

Can you identify with this uneasy tension that feels like nausea in the gut? When you reflect on Isis, Paris, Nice, racial unrest, Orlando, religious persecution, our political situation, and on and on, how is your faith? I’ve just returned to the states after spending a month in Africa and I hear about Von Miller, a talented Denver Bronco football player paid 114 million dollars to play 6 years of football while my friends in Lesotho Africa can’t find a job or eat a single meal a day, and I ask myself, “Where is the justice?” Yes, I’m a true blue Bronco fan but it is getting harder for me to swallow as the disparity is beyond extreme.

All that is going on in our shaky world can cause the strongest of faith to shatter just like Asaph, the writer of this song. But praise God for where his search into all of this evil and injustice brings him:

“till I entered the sanctuary of God…,” (Psalm 73:17).

Right there is the Psalm 73 Answer! The answer to the problem of evil and injustice will not be found in a political solution, military action, or more education. It can only be understood in the presence of a Sovereign God. Yes, the world will say that is ignorant and simplistic, but those who have followed the Psalmist into the House of the Lord to turn their eyes to King Jesus who is at the right hand of the Good Father know. They will join in and sing out the truth found in the glorious ending found in Psalm73.

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.