“If scripture is the living word of God, then it has something to say about anything,” John Kartje reflects on this episode of “Preach” just ahead of the United States presidential election. His advice to his congregation: live out your Christian faith every day, regardless of the election outcome. “When you wake up next Wednesday, the political world will have changed,” he says, “But the world transformed by the life, death, resurrection, and sending of the Holy Spirit changed 2000 years ago. And your world changed on the day of your baptism.”
John joins Ricardo da Silva, S.J. on “Preach” to explore how to preach about civic responsibility before the election. John cautions against the tendency to “live like the ancient Israelites” who trusted in temporary, precarious human leaders rather than the eternal high priest, Jesus Christ.
A native of northwest Indiana and now a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, John holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Chicago, which has enabled him to embrace mystery in both his scientific research and his religious vocation. In the past, John has served as campus chaplain at Northwestern University and as a parish priest. Currently, Kartje is the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.
Scripture Readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
First Reading: Dt 6:2-6
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
Second Reading: Heb 7:23-28
Gospel: Mk 12:28b-34
You can find the full text of the readings here.
Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, by Fr. John Kartje
In any election campaign, certainly in a presidential campaign here in America, a huge part of that is the campaign song. A lot of thought goes into choosing that song. It’s designed to rally the troops, get people excited, and somehow capture the spirit of the candidate and the campaign. It’s launched well before the election, and it’ll be played a lot on Election Day and election night.
But I want you to think about a future campaign and imagine, you know, the campaign guru sitting around deciding, what is our song gonna be? What can we choose that’s really gonna get people worked up and supporting us, you know. And they’re going through the top 10 list and Rolling Stones’ “Greatest Songs of All Time” and all the rest of it. And finally, they settle on one and they roll it out. There’s a huge campaign rally. Everybody’s waiting to see what they have chosen. They’ve got the band to cue it up, and all of a sudden they start belting out. The strife is over. The battle won.
Needless to say, they’d be left out of the room, not only because that old Christian war horse that sort of plods along would hardly get people dancing in the aisles, but maybe more importantly, because it’s too presumptuous. What do you mean the strife is over? That's not gonna make people excited. That’s going to encourage them to go, sit down and relax for a while. Nobody’s gonna wanna fight for that.
The strife over. The battle won. And yet, for Christians in any election, that should be the only campaign song. And contrary to having it making people feel like, well, there’s no more work to be done, that should be the thing that really inspires them with hope, inspires them to get up and try harder today than they did yesterday. Because this is the thing Christians often pray and sing in their hymns, whether they’re old classic hymns or whether they’re, you know, peppy praise and worship tunes.
We pray as if we have an eternal high priest, as we hear about in the Second Reading. We pray as if we’ve got a ruler who’s conquered forever and isn’t that wonderful, but we live like the ancient Israelites, as if we have a temporary high priest, and we’re always a little bit worried about who the next one’s going to be. Will he or she perhaps be the one to finally give us a reason for hope?
Think of how often hope turns up in campaign slogans. Bill Clinton, the Man from Hope; “Keep hope alive,” Barack Obama. We live like the ancient Israelites, as if our ruler is a very precarious person in a very precarious role. We’re only gonna have them for a time. And almost the day after any election, some people in the campaign start worrying about how we will hold onto power in four years.Or how will we get back power in four years?
We say we have an eternal high priest, but we live like we have a very temporary one. So what does it mean to live as if you’ve got a high priest if you are a Christian and you’re looking at the campaign that’s coming up in two days? And yes, we’ve worked so hard and we know that on Wednesday morning, some people will be incredibly despondent and disappointed, and some people will be incredibly happy. But what does it mean to live through that ephemeral, precarious reality as if we have a winner, a ruler, a leader for all time? Well, one thing you might do is just look at the campaign platform of the candidate you like, and what would it mean to live every day as if you were supporting the platform that’s got you so excited.
You know, in this four year cycle, in this campaign, let’s say you’re really moved by candidate X or Y, they seem to really respect the dignity of human life, and that’s something that’s getting you to the polls. Okay. But what does that look like for you locally? Whether the candidate wins or loses, whether there’s national legislation or not, whether there’s a Supreme Court justice appointed without affinity or not. What does it look like in your life supporting the dignity of life?
Where are you putting your time? Where is your kindness? Where is your support for others? What does that look like in your family? What does that look like in the workplace? Maybe the economy is huge for you, and maybe the plank of the platform about the economy is what really has you going in this year’s election. Well, maybe your money has gone to one candidate or other.
My gosh, it’s impossible to watch a YouTube video these days without being blasted by billionaires or former presidents asking you for just $5. If you can give $5 now, you can make a difference. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been gathered that way in just a matter of months. That same hundred million dollars existed before this campaign. That same hundred million dollars will exist after this campaign for a Christian. Where should that money be going, and where should your money be going? If you gave $5 to the campaign, where else will you be putting your $5? Maybe immigration is an important cause for you. And you might say, well, I mean, that’s big national policy. I can’t influence that. But almost anywhere in the United States, you’ve got people, you’ve got cities and towns that are being impacted by the needs of recent immigrants. And even if you don’t take the time or make a donation to help support the needs of these desperately needing people, how about just educating yourself?
So much ignorance gets spouted around this area of immigration reform. Simply being able to speak honestly and truthfully about what the legislation is proposing, about what the realities are, what the costs are, just being able to share the truth in that way and a compassionate way makes a difference. And I know the lie, the lie of the unholy spirit that wants to creep in and say, okay, fine. You know, you should do all those things, but it’s not really gonna make a difference. We need candidate X, we need candidate Y. Yeah, yeah, I know we’re Christians. Jesus is our high priest. I get all that. But what are we doing through our party? What are we doing through our nationally elected officials?
I’m reminded of, uh, a poster by the great professor at Duke Divinity School, Stanley Hauerwas. He famously had a poster in his office. It was two people embracing each other, clearly in the state of duress. And it came out by the Mennonite Church, and it said, “A modest proposal for ending war: No Christian should ever kill another Christian again. No Christian should ever kill another Christian again.” And people would go into his office and they’d be outraged by that. What do you mean that poster should say, no Christian should ever kill anyone again? And Hauerwas always gave the same reply. “It says a modest proposal, you gotta start someplace.”
And his point was, it’s so easy to get caught up in large global, all encompassing rhetoric, but what are you doing? What does it look like for you? Now, take Jesus Christ out of the picture, and you have a right to feel despondent. You have a right to feel like, well, what difference do I really make?
But this is the point. We are not the ones on whose shoulders it is to affect all these changes. We are the ones who are called to cooperate with the change that we say Jesus has already made in the world. And the lie is that what we do won’t make a difference. The lie is that if in my lifetime I don’t see this legislation changed or that Supreme Court justice appointed, then somehow we don’t have that ruler who’s made a difference. I don’t wanna sound naive about this, and I certainly don’t wanna suggest that you just sit back and do nothing and say, yeah, Jesus is king, so I guess we don’t need to get involved. But my point is, if you really see Jesus as the eternal high priest, you will get involved in a way you’ve never gotten involved before if you really believe it, right? Not just say it. And I think one of the problems with Christianity is that we start at the end point, right?
When you were in second grade and someone taught you about Jesus, you’re learning this language that you know, he is the savior, he is the king. Instead of starting with how this whole story began, people desperately recognizing a need, a desire to connect, a desire to make a difference, and then into that need, that desire, God descends (you know, that’s what the incarnation and the Paschal mystery is all about), Jesus says to the guy who comes up and questions them in the gospel, what should I do? “Well, love God, you know, with all your heart, with all your mind, your soul.” And then he says, and then the second commandment is, love your neighbor as yourself. And a lot of times, I think we interpret that as love God.
And let me give you another one. Love your neighbor. I don’t think if you take the gospel as a whole, that’s what Jesus is saying. I don’t think he’s saying Love God and love your neighbor. I think he’s saying, any love you have for your neighbor will grow out of your love for God. That is the foundation. Because to love God also means to have a heart that’s receptive of God’s love. And that’s the transformative piece. You can never fully love your neighbor as a Christian unless you are offering and receiving love from God.
Our theology says that, but what does it mean to live it out? And this is the point I would say to the person who is worried about this coming election, whatever the outcome is, you have every bit as much responsibility to live out of that reality, that Christ is king, and that we have to love as if we are loving God and are being loved by God, that same Jesus Christ.
We do that whether we win the election or we don’t. And that’s the thing that brings a source of hope and ultimately Christian joy. And it’s easy to say, well, no, that’s not gonna cut it. I need to win this election. But it’s amazing how we can never take on the challenge that Jesus offers, because we’ve decided in advance it’s not going to make a difference. Maybe the last thing I would just say is if you want this to be real for yourself, right? If you want this to look like something that isn’t just a Christian slogan, just as the Democrats and Republicans have their own slogans, don’t do what they did at the end of the Gospel. For me, one of the most frustrating lines in the entire New Testament is, and no one dared to ask him any more questions. That’s never the response to an encounter with Jesus.
Dare to ask questions. Dare to ask, why is this real for me? What does this look like? If your candidate loses, you may just give up and throw in the towel. I don’t wanna engage in this anymore. It’s pointless. That’s never the way to interact with Jesus. That’s never the way to interact with God. How? What does this look like, Jesus?
Yes, you’ve told me I should love my neighbor. You’ve told me I should love God with all my heart, mind, and soul. Now, how do I do it? How do I do it better? How do I do it more fully? How do I do it as if my heart desires nothing more to be intimately connected to yours? And of course, that isn’t just a question we utter in prayer, though we certainly should. We should offer it to each other. We should pose that even to our political leaders.
But we should also pose it to our most intimate friends, and we should pose it even to our enemies. Can you pray for not only the person who voted like you? Can you pray for the one who didn’t? Can you pray for the one who’s going enact your desire in their platform? And can you pray for the one who won’t?
When you wake up next Wednesday, the political world will have changed. But the world transformed by the life, death, resurrection, and sending of the Holy Spirit changed 2000 years ago. And your world changed on the day of your baptism.
When somebody sees you on Wednesday, almost certainly they’re gonna know whether you are a Republican or a Democrat. Will they know you’re a Christian?
