Glory and Government
Posted March 21, 2008

Easter – It’s about more than chocolate eggs and jellybeans. And although the retail industry may say differently, it’s even about more than the Easter Bunny.

For Christians, Easter is the year’s most joyous celebration, even more so than Christmas. For while Christmas marks Christ’s entry into the world, Easter marks His glorious resurrection, His eternal triumph over death and the grave, and His opening the door to reconciliation of humanity to God. Without Christmas, Easter would not be possible, but without Easter, Christmas would be meaningless.

We cannot truly celebrate the miracle of Easter, however, without pausing to examine the Miracle Himself: Christ. Often portrayed as meek and docile, Christ has been the subject of countless artistic renderings. Unfortunately, most of these portraits tell only half the story. They depict the Shepherd but not the King; the Prophet but not the Priest; the Lamb but not the Lion. 

Yet, Christ is all of these and more. He taught us to turn the other cheek but purposefully made whips to drive the moneychangers out of the temple. Some would label this a contradiction. Nothing, however, could be farther from the truth. For the reality of Christ’s love necessitates the actuality of His justice.

Just as parents show love to their children through both affection and discipline – i.e., justice – so, too, Christ loves the world both through His forgiveness and through His righteousness. His righteousness sets the boundaries of actions for our own safety, and His forgiveness allows us reentry into His presence when we cross those boundaries.

Traversing from the spiritual to the temporal world, you would be hard pressed to find any of these sentiments expressed in our state government’s observation – if you can even call it that – of Easter. Rather, the attention Easter garners in the halls of state politics is, by and large, limited to the annual Easter egg hunt at Drumthwacket.

Perhaps that’s because elected officials are too afraid to dip their fingers into anything deemed “religious.” Or, perhaps it’s because they are too involved in partisan bickering to pause and focus on things of greater importance.

Yet, while it would be easy to sit back and criticize the partisanship so rife in Trenton – and, indeed, such criticism is warranted – sharp disagreements at any level are only natural when dealing with issues of conviction.

It’s easy to say “let’s just all get along,” but putting this ideal into practice is often impossible without one side yielding its beliefs. Christ and the temple moneychangers could not simply “get along” because their differences were not merely over practices but over ideologies.
In the same way, while we in the public policy arena seek to bring all parties together to work for the common good, on some issues, “getting along” is nigh to impossible if it requires that we deny the bedrock foundations of our beliefs, i.e. the sanctity of life or the sanctity of marriage.

The inestimable importance of these issues demands that we not sit back silently and hold up Christ as Peacemaker to justify our inaction. Christ Himself, in talking of choosing Him over all else, said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”

While we will continue to speak out against the purely partisan politics that creates obstacles to progress, we will not advocate “peace at all costs.” While we will continue to work to find common ground with those on opposite sides of the issues, we will never yield our ground. And while we will continue to love those with whom we disagree, we will never feign approval of actions that, ultimately, lead to personal, familial, and societal destruction.

For the same Christ of Easter who taught us to love one another continues to impel us to fight steadfastly for what is right.

 

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