"Was Jesus Patriotic?" A Sermon on Christian Patriotism

“Was Jesus Patriotic?”

Matthew 22:15-22; Rev. Carl Lindquisyt

Was Jesus patriotic?  If you’re like me, you’ve probably never thought of it that way before.  It’s really an odd question.  I guess that most of us, since we think patriotism is a good thing, off the top of our heads would say, “well, of course Jesus was patriotic.”

But was he?  After all, wasn’t he brought before the Roman governor Pilate by the leaders of his own country, where they told Pilate, according to the gospel of Luke, “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is a king.  He stirs up the people.” (Luke 23:2)  That doesn’t sound very much like a man who was seen as patriotic by his own countryman.  Pilate for his part didn’t necessarily agree with them, for he found Jesus not guilty of any crimes but he agreed to have Jesus crucified anyway, basically just to keep the peace there with those Jerusalem leaders.

If Chris Christie Were An IPO

If Chris Christie were an IPO, I would buy. He is the leading Presidential contender at this moment and probably will be for awhile. All the Tea Party candidates (Cruz, Rubio, Paul) are going: how does he do that? LOL

Is Christie very capable of political self-destruction? No doubt, given his tendency to real New Jersey bullying. But he is also charming and authentic, and he's not faking anything that I can tell. This is who he is. And America may just be ready for someone who is a pragmatic, no-nonsense head-cracker, who can also defy the conventional wisdom (like hugging the hated President Obama just before the 2012 election...LOL).

According to the NYT: "In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 700,000, Mr. Christie won a majority of the votes of women and Hispanics and made impressive inroads among younger voters and blacks — groups that Republicans nationally have struggled to attract."

Governor Christie--like him or not, agree with him or not on policy--has the look of a winner. (This is not an endorsement, just an observation!) And all the RINO talk being thrown around by the Tea Partiers is just spitting in the wind. Christie is the REAL THING, a Republican who can win.