It is done

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.

"'But after I have risen. I will go ahead of you into Galilee.'

"Peter replied, 'Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.'

"'I tell you the truth,' Jesus answered, 'this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.'"

As this year's long election season was coming to a climatic close Tuesday, Evangelical Christian leaders everywhere urged people to get out and vote based on Biblical values and pray that God would deliver this election to the candidate that would support the "sanctity" of marriage and oppose abortion rights. Fearful of the contagious tide that has even swept some of their own into the liberal side of the aisle, they have in some cases felt the need to first convince people that Barack Obama (who supports homosexual domestic partnership rights and is pro-choice) is NOT the Messiah, such as this obsessive and unconvincing website: http://therefinersfire.org/messiah_obama.htm

Could it be that Evangelical Christians are right that Barack Obama is not the Messiah? Or are they merely afraid to confess allegiance to him, just as Peter disowned Christ? Worse yet, are they the ones of the religious establishment that would crucify him for threatening the status quo? And if the world condemns him, who among us will dare to stand by his side?

It is challenging to find clear parallels between now and then. Barack Obama's disciples are now celebrating his triumphal ascendence to supreme worldly power, not cowering away from association with a spiritually righteous man facing execution by worldly powers. Is this a celebration of the reign of God on earth? Or is it a disastrous acquiescence of transcendent righteousness to worldly structures? What happens when the Messiah becomes Caesar?

Dear followers, let us be careful that we not become the evil we seek to defeat as we remember the reprimand of the prophets: "Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like and ever-flowing stream."