Is Jesus a liberal or a conservative?

The more we scroll through social media posts, the more we see it:

    People who claim Jesus must be in favor of one political bent or the other. 

Oh, they'll give ample reasons for why they believe so, and many of their conclusions may make sense on the surface.

It's only when we dig a little deeper that these arguments fall apart. 

They'll state emphatically that Jesus would never associate with people who do this or that.

They'll insist, since he would never be a part of such things, he must instead be in support their party of choice.

But here's the problem...

    Jesus doesn't have a political affiliation.

    Jesus is simply Jesus, and he stands far above any of that.

To catch a brief glimpse into the heart of his earthly ministry, we have to ask the following questions:

    Who did Jesus spend time with?

    Who did he reach out to?

He was regularly criticized by the leaders of the church due to the company he kept.

In Mark 2:15-22, we read:

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

In fact, he chose a diverse group of disciples, guilty of committing various sins. 

    Pick your sin.

    It doesn't matter which one. 

It can be the reason we believe someone else is unworthy of salvation. 

Here's the problem...

    We are all unworthy.

    Every last one of us.

From the guy in the back corner of the bar, to the well-dressed couple in the front row at church. 

    We are all saved by grace, and grace alone. 

A very wise man once said when we get to heaven, we'll probably be shocked at who we see there...

    And who we don't. 

We can feel justified in condemning an entire group of people simply due to their party affiliation - this is absolute arrogance. 

    Jesus never once played politics, and neither should we. 

    He came to save, not to condemn. 

    We should strive to have the same mindset.

Within any political party, no matter how liberal or conservative, we don't have to look very hard to find people guilty of horrible things. 

    But we're not called to point out the sins of others. 

    That's easy. 

We're called to recognize, confess, and repent for sins we find in ourselves.

    It doesn't matter which political party we choose.

We're all sinners who, given the right set of circumstances, are capable of committing terrible acts.

Am I suggesting we ignore the horrendous things we see going on within political parties?

    Not at all. 

We need to show wisdom when making these choices and cast our ballots based upon our personal convictions.

But it really comes down to this:

    Do we want to make this a better world?

    Of course we do.

The best way to begin, is for each of us to try to be better ourselves.

So, in answer to the question: "Is Jesus a liberal or a conservative?"

    The answer is no...