The Campaign

Good News for a Partisan World

Michael Hudson

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781098013622
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Campaigns & Elections
• Index: Politics & International Relations

"Hope and Change" or "Make America Great Again, " these are just some of the recent promises political candidates have campaigned on to get elected. The temptation to put our trust in politicians and political parties is great. After all, there have been some great men and women who have run for office and done good things. Yet, even so, we have an expectation that one day someone will come along who can really fix things. Election after election, we keep waiting for that day to arrive.But what if that day has already come? What if that candidate has already come on the scene? What if someone ran for the highest office and was able to keep his campaign promises? Would you vote for that person? What would that campaign look like? Turns out, it would look a lot like the Gospel of Mark.The Campaign: Good News for a Partisan World looks at the Gospel of Mark like a political campaign. Mark comes complete with everything you need for a high-stakes contest. It has a reform candidate, primaries, slogans, campaign rallies in different towns, grassroots support, campaign promises, a party platform, opposition from the establishment, debates, false accusations, bribes, election eve sabotage, an assassination, and of course, a vote.Read this book and decide for yourself if The Campaign is really good news for a partisan world!

The Root Issue

Mark 9:9–10:52

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere,

diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.

—Groucho Marx

Coming down the mountain, Peter, James, and John have to be thinking, “Jesus you put on that show a few more times and this election is in the bag.” But then Jesus does it again. He orders them “not to tell anybody what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” This has to be frustrating to His friends. He is back on this dying thing. What does He mean rising from the dead? Does that mean not to say anything until His poll numbers go back up? They ask a question about Elijah, but He counters with a question of His own. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?”

Why indeed? If Jesus has this power and glory in Him, why suffer? This “losing” platform He has put out there makes no political sense at all. And it is clear He is not coming off it. So why must He suffer and be rejected?

Because Jesus is addressing the root issue. He is going after the real cause of the problems we face in the world. Every political, social, economic, environmental, national, or global problem has, at its root, our sin and separation from God. The world and everyone in it is broken because of our rebellion and refusal to submit to God.

Many today are saying the problem with the world is an unequal distribution of wealth. To fix this we need to redistribute the wealth equally. That is what the government must do. Others say the problem is patriarchy. White men control positions of power and authority. To fix the problem, women and minorities must replace them and then justice will come. Others say the problem is the government is too big and corrupt. To fix the problem we must “drain the swamp.” On and on it goes.

Politicians, candidates, and false messiahs all offer solutions to the issues we face. But who has ever delivered? From the war on poverty to peace in our time, their promises are unfulfilled. They diagnose a symptom but not the real sickness. They can’t fix the root issue because they, too, are sick and broken by sin and separated from God.

Jesus is different and His solution is going to be different. The Son of Man has to be rejected because of the political nature of His kingdom. His rule means others won’t. Our rebellion started in the Garden of Eden. We didn’t want to live by the one rule God gave. We wanted to be in charge. We wanted to be King. As a result, the world is out of whack, upside down, running opposite of the way it was created to run. Instead of unity, there is discord. Instead of peace, there is war. Instead of prosperity, there is poverty. Instead of stewardship, there is selfishness. Instead of freedom, there is slavery. Instead of life, there is death.

Our rebellion against God continues to this day. We strive to set up our own kingdoms and be our own king. But the universe is not wired to work that way. Rebellion against God (the Bible calls it sin) always results in separation from God, others, and yourself. You cannot sin successfully. It always results in the disintegration of creation. It always ends in death.

In addition, God is holy. Therefore, He cannot live in the midst of sin and rebellion. Or better said, we cannot live in the midst of His holiness. Our sin in His presence would kill us. We would literally die of embarrassment and shame. God is also just and justice requires that rebellion and sin be punished. The wrong done to God must be atoned.

The Son of Man has to suffer and die because He is going to save us from the consequences of our rebellion and sin—namely death and eternal separation from God in hell—and make atonement for us. The Son of Man is going to make creation great again—the way it was intended to be from the beginning. There have been some candidates who have suffered and died serving the people. Lincoln is the foremost of them. He was killed because of his effort to save the Union. But even with such a great sacrifice, Lincoln could not solve the root issue. Others have been a servant of the people, but all of them had sin as well.

Only someone without sin can make atonement for us and save us. We need someone who can pay the penalty for sin, reverse the curse, and turn the world right side up. We need a ca...

Table of contents

• The Announcement
• Vetted
• The Stump Speech
• Opposition
• The Nomination
• The Platform
• The Endorsement
• The Root Issue
• The Final Push
• The Debates
• Predicting Doom and Gloom
• Election Night
• The Vote
• The Election Results
• The Transition