‘Politics and religion don’t mix.’ You won’t believe how many people have said that to me over the past few weeks. One of my projects over the past few weeks has been organising a hustings for our local candidates for Rutland and Stamford ahead of the General Election. We are set to host an Oakham hustings in All Saints church on Tuesday 25^th June at 6.30pm. When I’ve told people that I’ve been organising a hustings, including my mother, I’ve had the reply: ‘Surely, you should avoid mixing politics and religion?’ Politics and religion, politics and church don’t mix. This is a common saying we have in our culture. Maybe it’s been born out of the evolving republics in the West over the past few hundred years. But when I look at Jesus, I can’t see how this is right. 

Jesus is so political. He is King Jesus, leader of a kingdom (now that is pretty political). He was crucified as a political prisoner by the Roman state. How can people say that Jesus is not political? Maybe we say that politics and religion don’t mix because of what happened to Jesus. Politics and religion don’t mix, because if they do mix, you end up crucified. And if you look at the history of the church, including the Church of England, many people have been martyred when religion clashed with politics. Maybe we say that politics and religion don’t mix because we are scared of what might happen to us. But look at Jesus. He didn’t let fear stop him from being political. Jesus cares for people, and at its heart politics is (or should be) about people. It then makes complete sense that Jesus is political because Jesus cares for people. He fights for people; he loves and cares for them; he brings them healing and justice no matter what the consequences are. Whereas when I look at our world today, we are so afraid of what people might say or getting cancelled that we are too scared to speak up for what we believe is right or to make a stand. This is not living like Jesus. Jesus is deeply political and our call to be his disciples invites us to do the same. 

As we approach a General Election, it is paramount that we remember that Jesus cared deeply about politics. Notice that Jesus didn’t speak about being left wing or right wing. Jesus spoke about caring for the poor and those in need. Jesus spoke about helping the marginalised. Jesus spoke about each of us playing our part and taking responsibility for what God has given to us. Ultimately, Jesus’ approach to politics was: how can I love others the best? If we follow Jesus’ example and choose politics that love others the best, then I think we see the greatest flourishing of God’s kingdom here on earth at our General Election. History shows us that being political can be costly, even costing us our lives. But the way of the cross calls us to give all that we have to love others no matter the cost. It is unbearably hard, but it is the way that leads to the work of Jesus’ saving and transformative power in this world.