I’ve been reading it on more than a few Christian blogs and now a Democratic Congressman has said it as well: “Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor.” Such a statement may sound catchy on a bumper sticker, but is it true?

Let me preface my answer to that question by saying that community organizers do great and necessary work. We need them, and it is unfortunate that in the rough-and-tumble of politics, the Republicans have unintentionally demeaned their contributions. At the same time, small town mayors also do important work. They are necessary to so much that happens in the small town setting. We need them, and it is also unfortunate that in the rough-and-tumble of politics, the Democrats have unintentionally demeaned their contributions.

(As a side, I am also getting a little tired of the “Let’s see who can be offended the most” game that both the left and the right are playing. I believe that politics should be civil, but I have trouble tolerating thin-skinned wimps. Our culture has turned being offended into a virtue. Community organizers are offended, small town mayors are offended, the left is offended, the right is offended, and even the non-offended are offended. Everybody needs to shake it off and suck it up already!)

Now that I have prefaced my comments and ranted a little in italics, I must say that Jesus was not a community organizer, and frankly, I am quite baffled that anyone remotely familiar with the New Testament would suggest such a thing. Such a view abstracts Jesus’ person from his unique work. It is tantamount to overgeneralizing Jesus’ teaching into the abstract, slippery, sentimental, and contemporary notions of love. It is equivalent to reducing the bodily resurrection of Jesus into nothing more than a metaphor that testifies to the impact Jesus made on his followers.

To reduce Jesus to the role of community organizer is to demean his ministry, not because what community organizers do is insignificant, but because what Jesus has done is so significant and so unique, that there is no way to adequately describe it in the roles and agendas of others. Jesus did not organize the community called church, he founded that community; and it is not just another community seeking to do some good in the world, although it surely does that. The church is the vehicle by which God is bringing his salvation to the world, and no other community has been chosen for such a unique task.

I do not remember the angels saying to the shepherds in Bethlehem, “To you is born this day in the City of David, the Community Organizer, the Lord.” When Jesus was on trial, Caiaphas did not ask him, “Are you the Community Organizer, the Son of the Blessed Activist?”

Am I being somewhat glib here? Of course, I am. Again, my point is not to belittle the great work that community organizers do every day. What I find silly is the ridiculous turn this discussion has taken, which all started with both parties playing the “My candidate has more experience than your candidate” game, which is also nonsensical, since the American people have demonstrated in every presidential election since 1976, that experience is not high on their list when it comes to whom they choose for president. We Christians have added to the childishness when we assert that Jesus was a community organizer; and when we note that Pontius Pilate was a governor, as if that too is somehow a profound insight.

While I am grateful to all our community organizers, our governors and our mayors for the difficult and necessary work that they do, I think it is best to leave Jesus out of the fray, and to once again, place him where he belongs– as Lord and Savior and as one whose life and work cannot be compared to anyone else’s.

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Cross-Posted at Allan R. Bevere

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Culture, 2008 Presidential Candidates, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.