Of Course Jesus Was Political (And We Need To Be Too)

“I just wish they’d stick to the Gospel and stay out of politics.”

We’ve all heard this complaint, usually directed at liberal clergy who dare to speak out about injustice, poverty, or oppression. The assumption is that “real” Christianity focuses solely on personal salvation and individual morality, while political engagement represents a corruption of Jesus’ “purely spiritual” message.

This view isn’t just wrong — it fundamentally misunderstands who Jesus was and what he taught. Jesus was deeply, unavoidably political. And if we want to truly follow him, we must be political too.

Let’s be clear about what we mean by “political.” We’re not talking about partisan politics or electoral campaigns. We’re talking about the broader question of how power is distributed and exercised in society, how resources are allocated, and how human communities should be organized. In this sense, Jesus’ entire ministry was political from start to finish.

Consider his inaugural sermon in Luke 4:18–19, where he announces his mission by quoting Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This wasn’t just flowery religious language. The “year of the Lord’s favor” referred to the Jubilee year, when, according to Leviticus 25, debts would be forgiven, slaves freed, and land returned to its original owners. Jesus was announcing a radical reorganization of society’s economic and power relations.

Jesus challenged the status quo

When Jesus said “you cannot serve both God and Mammon” (Mt 6:24) he was critiquing the idolatry of wealth that dominated his society (and ours). When he drove the money changers from the Temple, he was confronting a corrupt religious-economic system that exploited the poor. When he told the rich young ruler to sell everything and give to the poor, he was calling for a dramatic redistribution of wealth.

Even his execution was fundamentally political. Rome didn’t crucify people for teaching religious doctrines — crucifixion was reserved for political rebels who threatened imperial order. (1)

The sign above Jesus’ cross reading “King of the Jews” wasn’t meant ironically. He was killed because his message of God’s kingdom posed a direct challenge to Caesar’s empire.

Some argue that Jesus’ politics were solely focused on his historical context and don’t translate to modern political engagement. But the core principles he taught — radical equality, preferential option for the poor, liberation of the oppressed, sharing of resources, nonviolent resistance to injustice — remain deeply relevant to our contemporary political struggles.

Others claim that Jesus’ kingdom was “not of this world” and therefore apolitical. But this misreads John 18:36. Jesus wasn’t saying his kingdom had nothing to do with earthly political reality. He was saying it operated according to different principles than worldly kingdoms based on violence and domination. His kingdom was (and is) about transforming this world through love, justice, and mutual care.

Also, the New Testament makes it crystal clear that the coming Kingdom of God — which was central to Jesus’s message — was on this planet, not another world. (2)

The early church understood this. Acts 2 and 4 describe the first Christian communities holding all property in common and ensuring no one was in need. They weren’t just practicing private charity — they were modeling an alternative economic and social order. This got them in trouble with authorities who recognized the political implications of their way of life.

What it means for us today

So what does this mean for Christians today? It means we cannot compartmentalize our faith from our political engagement. If we truly want to follow Jesus, we must:

1. Name and resist systems of oppression and exploitation
2. Stand in solidarity with the poor and marginalized
3. Work for economic justice and equitable distribution of resources
4. Challenge militarism, nationalism, and capitalism

This isn’t about imposing Christianity through political power — Jesus explicitly rejected that path. It’s about living out kingdom values in the public sphere and working to transform society from the bottom up.

Jesus embodied the socialist principal that another world is possible — one based on love, justice, and the dignity of all people.

We must remember that first and foremost, we are citizens of that coming new world — and we must act like it. We betray that vision when we reduce Christianity to private piety or individual salvation. Our commitment to Him must include commitment to the political implications of his message.

Does this mean all Christians must reach the same political conclusions? No. We can debate policies and strategies. But we cannot pretend that following Jesus has nothing to do with political engagement. His message was political. His execution was political. His resurrection was political — God’s vindication of his way over empire’s way.

So the next time someone says “keep politics out of religion,” remind them that Jesus didn’t. He confronted the powers of his day and called his followers to help build God’s kingdom of justice and peace. We honor him not by keeping quiet about politics, but by following his example of speaking truth to power and working for transformation of both hearts and systems.

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FOOTNOTES

1. On Rome’s use of crucifixion specifically for political rebels and threats to imperial order, rather than religious offenses, see Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999) and Martin Hengel, Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1977). Both scholars emphasize that Rome was concerned primarily with maintaining political control and used crucifixion as a public deterrent against rebellion, not as punishment for theological disputes.
2. The earthly nature of God’s kingdom is evident throughout the gospels and culminates in Revelation’s vision of the New Jerusalem descending to earth (Rev 21:1–2). In Matthew 6:10, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for God’s kingdom to come ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ In Luke 17:20–21, Jesus declares the kingdom is ‘among you’ or ‘in your midst,’ using present-tense, physical language. The Lord’s Prayer in both Matthew and Luke asks for ‘daily bread’ and the forgiving of earthly debts, while Jesus’s kingdom parables consistently use imagery of seeds, crops, fish, and other material elements of this world. See also Mark 1:15 where Jesus announces the kingdom has drawn ‘near,’ using spatial rather than otherworldly language. Even Revelation’s apocalyptic finale describes not an escape to heaven but a renewal of earth, with God’s dwelling place moving among mortals (Rev 21:3). For a full analysis of the earthly nature of Jesus’s kingdom teachings, see Marcus Borg, Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary (San Fransisco: HarperOne, 2006).