Introduction: Together Before God

Bad Political Decisions
Alywn Thomson

Wrong Political Expectations
David Porter

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WRONG POLITICAL EXPECTATIONS
So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. Acts 1: 6-9

If Pilate was the example of bad political decision making, then the disciples in their question to Jesus present the spectre of wrong political expectations.

This passage has given rise to a great deal of debate about the nature of the kingdom and the role of Israel in relation to the New Covenant.

Yet whatever our theological perspective the disciples question clearly expressed a wrong political expectation. Those who hold a premillennial view might point to their false expectation of a temporal reality whose time was not due. Those who take another line of interpretation might claim that they expected what only existed in spiritual terms.

Whatever our perceptions there is something to be learned from Jesus' reply about wrong political expectations. In essence there are three aspects to their question:

1. Is this the time?
2. Was this the cause?
3. Are we the people?

Is This the Time?
For the disciples the weeks between crucifixion and ascension were to change their lives dramatically. The miracle working teacher whom they had given up all to follow, had been arrested and killed by the Jewish and Roman authorities. Now he was alive - risen from the dead. His teaching began to fall into place.

During these weeks Jesus focused on the first major theme of his post-resurrection teaching - the kingdom of God (v3). But the disciples wanted to know when, where and how. It was all very well of Jesus to tell them what the kingdom is like - but they wanted a time and date. They wanted to be a part of God's programme.

Jesus reply was initially simple and to the point. It was not for them to known the times - chronos - and dates - kairos. That was God's prerogative. The day would come, Jesus would return - but that was God's secret.

These words, chronos and kairos, feature in discussions relating faith to politics. The question is posed, Is this a kairos moment for the church, for the community?

The clue to the answer comes in verse 8 where Jesus introduces his second major theme - the Spirit of God. This would be the new power in their life a power that would equip them to be witnesses to Jesus to the ends of the earth.

As he set this programme before them, Jesus introduced his closest followers to the idea that the way forward is gradual and that the realisation of the kingdom is a continuing work of grace through the witness of the church.

So, Jesus answer to this first question is a nuanced yes and no.

Yes, it was the time, a critical moment - a kairos moment - when the Spirit would come in fulfilment of all the Old Testament prophecies.

No, it would always be the time. A time for the gradual movement of God's grace extending throughout the world, a time that gives time for people to respond to the witness.

Thus there is a multiplicity of critical moments for the kingdom to be established in the hearts and minds of people. There is not a once for all moment, but a measured offer of grace that comes time and time again enabling us to live according to kingdom values.

Is it, then, a kairos moment for us? Here in Northern Ireland we seem to have faced so many critical times, so many crossroads. Now, in their efforts to move us beyond our political apathy some tell us that this is such a time - indeed, the crunch time.

So is this the time?

Yes -in that it is the time for Christian people to demonstrate that the kingdom of God has taken root in their hearts and minds.

No - in that there will be many more times, kairos moments, in the affairs of this community. The context may be different but the central issue will remain the same - will God reign in our lives, will God's Spirit be the power that determines the political future or will it be the spirit of our earthly loyalties?

Was This the Cause?
A time was coming, but a time for what? The disciples thought they knew - it was time for the restoration of the kingdom to God's people, Israel.

For them this spoke of a political and territorial reality. After all it was part of their history. God's promise of deliverance in tangible, material, temporal terms was there for all to see in the prophets. Surely this would now happen.

But their experience should have alerted them. While Jesus talked about the kingdom almost with every breath, there was something new - something radical.

Travelling towards Jerusalem for what they undoubtedly expected to be the revealing of the kingdom, the inhabitants of a Samaritan village made clear that Jesus was not welcome. He was not one of them and by going to Jerusalem he offended their cultural and religious traditions. Their territory was off limits. James and John, the sons of thunder, wanted to command fire from heaven to consume them. But Jesus rebuked them saying: "You do not know what spirit you are of, for the Son of man has come not to destroy the lives of human beings but to save them." Luke 9.55 - 56

Jesus was offering them power, but it was of a different order. It was the power of a different kingdom.

It was the power that comes through repentance - had his earliest message not been repent for the kingdom of God is near? It was the power that works for the salvation of people, not their destruction, while awaiting the return of Christ. It was the power of a renewed lifestyle, marked by love, peace and justice. This was the spiritual dynamic of the kingdom that Jesus wished to restore.

Was this the cause? The disciples had not truly understood the cause. There could be no question of force or domination. Instead, the cause would be pursued by grace and the proclamation of repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24.45-48

Faith was to be a matter of conviction and conversion, not coercion.

Nor should we be naive about the implications of this. To proclaim the kingdom of God, to make known the reign of God, over and beyond the governments and rulers of this world, is a subversive political act.

Many Christians have been put to death, not because of the offence of their lifestyle, but because of their obedience and loyalty to the heavenly King.

Here is one of the great ironies of Protestant history. Those who have believed most strongly in the spiritual nature of the kingdom, the Reformed tradition, have been among the most aggressive in pursuing temporal gains through political and military coercion. Politics and, if necessary, physical force are legitimised in the cause of preserving something that is essentially spiritual.

Yet those who believe in a temporal aspect have so relegated it to a future utopian state that they have separated the values of the kingdom from political values in this world. The Pietistic tradition stands aloof from the dirty world of politics and social justice.

However, the cause we are called to follow is the cause of restoring the kingdom: restoring it in our loyalty - For God and His Glory Alone; restoring it in our lifestyle - a people of peace, justice, love and reconciliation; restoring it in the realities of our divided community.

Are We the People?
Finally, the disciples were very specific concerning the identity of the true inheritors of this kingdom -Israel. It was to their people - the long suffering people, the victim people, the righteous people - that the kingdom would be given.

After the years of occupation and exploitation, of siege and exile, of violence and terror, they would be vindicated.

In response to this Jesus declared his radical agenda, a prospect that would offend the most righteous of the disciples. It already had offended the people of his home town (Luke 4.15-30).

His ejection from the synagogue was not a response to his claim to fulfil his hearers' messianic expectations. Far from it, they were quite taken with his fine words, if a little baffled that it was Joseph's son saying them. What provoked the good inhabitants of Nazareth was, rather, Jesus' clear implication that Israel was unable to receive this message but that it would be accepted beyond Israel's boundaries. It was only then that the people rose up against him. The disciples were to go not simply to Jerusalem and Judea - the safe areas, the right sort of people. They were to go to Samaria, where their presence had been unwelcome, and to the ends of the earth, to the nations- ta ethne, a term of abuse for civilised city dwelling Greeks and orthodox Jew alike.

They were to go to those beyond the geographical political, religious and cultural borders of their day, for the kingdom was theirs. Jesus' vision was not for a national kingdom but an international one.

To the cry We are the people Jesus proclaims God is God. God does not owe us anything.

He does not owe us a pure Ireland in recompense for our struggle. He does not owe us an inviolate Ulster as reward for our faithfulness. We may be at the centre of our universe, but God is at the centre of his - the sovereign LORD - and his purpose is bigger.

God is not limited to us or our narrow vision. God's grace is for all people, without favour.

Nationalism, particularly of the religious kind - whether of the Irish or British variety - which binds the people to the land and together to their nationhood under God, is not a New Testament option.

Ours is a new covenant, not between God and a particular people, but between God and His Son and with the nations of the world.

Our people are now those who hear God's word and obey it, irrespective of national allegiance, ethnic identity, political conviction or geographical location.

Moreover, this sovereign LORD is not dependent on us. The kingdom of God in this community is not conditional on the constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom or on the reconciliation of our divided peoples within one political state of Ireland.

Defending Ulster is not defending God. Reconciling Ireland is not restoring the kingdom.

Conclusion
We have asked three questions of the text - questions which go to the heart of the wrong political expectations that beset at least part of this community on both sides of the divide.

Is this the time? Yes, but it is one of many in which we will be tested as to whether the kingdom is real for us, as to whether God's Spirit empowers us.

Was this the cause? No, there is a greater cause: the reign of God and his Christ, the recognition of his principles and values and their relevance to individuals and communities, politicians and governments.

Are we the people? No, no more than any other part of God's humanity which confesses Christ.

For as John Stott notes: 'Christ's kingdom, while not incompatible with patriotism, tolerates no narrow nationalisms. He rifles over an international community in which race and nation are no barriers to fellowship.

Unless we allow Jesus to correct our expectations in the light of the kingdom of God, then we are all too likely to make bad political choices at a time when Christian people are needed to make Christian choices for our future.

David Porter - ECONI's Director