"The Stones Are Crying Out"

My own sense of being offended by those who insist on confusing political opinion with the gospel of our Lord has made me very reluctant to ever be tempted to do the same. If I hear one more television ad where a sleazy politician is trying to bathe his or her political nonsense in “Christian values,” I think I will be sick.

But for crying out loud! I’m reminded of that story in Luke’s gospel where, during the final week, some of Jesus’ disciples are praising Him, shouting “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.” Of course this offended the Pharisees and they demand that Jesus “rebuke your disciples.” Jesus replies in a way that must have astonished his critics, “’I tell you,’ he said, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’” (Luke 19:40, NIV)

I don’t want to be guilty of being the kind of follower of Jesus for whom the stones have to speak.

How can we who are followers of Jesus be content with the political hacks of our day using gospel language in such repulsive ways? I’m not remotely taking political sides here, but honesty compels me to say that politicians on the right seems to think they have freedom to use our sacred language to prop up their political ideas more and more.

You may have heard of Sean Hannity. He is a slick radio and television talking head. Sometimes he says things that I think are politically correct – but I find myself thinking that I need to rethink what I think if what I think is so similar to what he thinks. He’s not doing the gospel any favors.

Yet, he uses our language all the time. He forever loves to quote “Let not your hearts be troubled . . .” as though he were the person to be quoting Jesus, while at the same time accusing the current president of thinking that he is “the anointed one.” Think about that. Those words he quotes all the time come from the Upper Room, within hours of when His disciples would face the brutal reality of His crucifixion. I just can’t take it that some “getting richer every day” entertainer would think that because he is on the radio, I don’t need to worry. “The stones are crying out.”

While I have a long list of issues over which the current president and I would have stark disagreement over were we to discuss them, I would never take the idea of Messiah – “the anointed one” – and sully it by using it as a pejorative to describe a political opponent. Maybe the president does think more highly of himself than he ought, but do we need to make “the anointed one” a political name-calling episode instead of a reminder of the redeeming work God accomplished in Jesus of Nazareth? “The stones are crying out.”

Then over the weekend, Sarah Palin pushed me over the line. Did you hear what she said at the NRA meeting in Indianapolis on Saturday? If you didn’t, here it is: “Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” You and I don’t have to agree on whether or not waterboarding is appropriate as a way of gaining information from terrorists that might protect innocent people from harm to be offended that she would take the sacred word “baptize” and associate it with an action that has been roundly challenged by both liberals and conservatives.  I simply can’t imagine what it the world would possess any politician to think that is appropriate. “The stones are crying out.”

If you live in Georgia, television viewing has become a series of political ads for the US Senate, where one candidate after the other, bathing themselves in the aura of Christian values, proceeds to overstate the truth about themselves and blast the overstated claims of opponents. I’m thinking of disconnecting my land line, for no other reason than the simple fact my answering machine will no longer be filled with political phone calls. The mailbox is no different – if I believed what is on the flyers, postcards, posters, etc. that are in there daily, I would assume that Jesus must have been a card carrying member of the NRA who saw little need for concern for the poor and should have said “Don’t give Caesar anything” rather than “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” “The stones are crying out.”

If this sounds a little “anti-rightwing” it isn’t meant to be. The left of our political culture seems to not care enough about the gospel to abuse it. Jesus seemed to think that what we call “Christian values” could be summed up as “Love God, Love neighbor.” If that’s true – then neither the left nor the right should attempt to clothe themselves in the Jesus story.

My wife and I don’t even tell each other exactly who we vote for, so I can guarantee you this isn’t about for which candidate you should vote. I simply don’t want “the stones to cry out” about the abuse of gospel vocabulary while I sit back and vomit.

Little wonder that Barna reports that our culture’s attitude toward church is tanking.