Election Anxiety

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I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a bit of election anxiety.

I’m not crazy about either presidential candidate, to be honest, but using the standards of my faith, I greatly prefer one over the other. Other people will undoubtedly have a different preference.

But if my preferred candidate is not elected, I fear a further corruption of democratic processes, further deterioration of the value of honesty and integrity, tolerance and benevolence. And greater authoritarianism.

Some will say that these negative traits apply equally to both candidates; that both candidates lie, are intolerant, etc. But as I said, though I don’t fully endorse either, I think there is a great difference in their moral characters, and I believe morality and ethics are basic qualities to seek in a presidential candidate.

Thought Better of Myself

I’m not pleased to feel that anxiety. I thought better of myself, but there’s so much at stake, I suppose it’s to be expected. I keep coming back to a cliché about worrying about the future: “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Unfortunately, the answer doesn’t provide solace. The “N” word comes to mind.

But as with pretty much everything in life, my faith helps put things in perspective, and a book I’ve been quoting often, entitled “Jesus: An Historical Approximation” by José Antonio Pagola, a Spanish theologian and biblical scholar, helps to do that by his descriptions of the political and social conditions at the time of Jesus. Knowing what Jesus had to endure helps me deal with the anxiety.

And, according to Pagola and other historians, Jesus lived in a society in which there was little to no middle class, where the prevailing authoritarian elites and wealthy property owners were the only citizens that mattered, and where the mostly rural poor were nobodies in the eyes of their “betters.”

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When Jesus was three or four years old, some Palestinian residents rebelled against the occupying Roman rulers. So, Varus, the governor of Syria – acting on behalf of the Roman occupiers – invaded Palestine with about 20,000 soldiers. He enslaved “a large number of Jews and mercilessly crucified the most rebellious of them, estimated to be about two thousand people.”

He burned down the city of Sepphoris, the closest “big city” to Nazareth, and burned rural villages in Galilee, the part of Israel where Jesus lived.

Things didn’t get better for Jesus and his family. For all of his life, Jesus had to tolerate extreme authoritarianism on the part of civil and religious authorities.

“There were crosses scattered all over Palestine, before and after Jesus,” writes Pagola. “Everyone knew how common it was to crucify slaves, thieves, rebels and anyone who threatened the peace.

“The Roman Empire that enslaved the peoples, the vested interests that ran the temple, the exploitation of the peasants with all kinds of tributes and taxes, the self-serving interpretation of the law by some scribes: everything seem to be ruled by the mysterious power of evil.”

Exercising Authority

Jesus’ reaction: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles (Jews were held to a higher standard, which they didn’t always meet.), and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be the slave of all.”

Jesus understood that this advice would not play well among most of his listeners. Many believed the only response to authoritarianism was rebellion. Jesus’ answer to the cruelty, arbitrariness and chaos of his social and political climate, however, was trust in the Father and reliance on the peace that trust brings.

For people searching for God, that may be hard to swallow. But faith in a loving Father implies a child-like trust that no matter what happens, God is in charge and ultimately, all will be well - even if elections don’t go your way.