All In The Presentation; Jesus Christ For President

So now the speculation is over. Eighteen months of campaigning have come to an end and the newest 'leader of the free world' has been declared to be Donald Trump.
 

I am going to resist commenting specifically on politics, well policies at least. I find myself in a curious position these days. Precisely because of my faith I find I cannot endorse whole heartedly left or right wing views. I find that, for example, people who are pro-immigration are very often people who are pro-abortion. I will leave you to decide which of those issues I support and which I take issue with. I have my political leanings, for sure, but there seems to be, for someone whose foundation for belief is the word of God, no one ideology that can possibly incorporate my views. The Kingdom is beyond politics. The Kingdom is my true country of origin and it supersedes all other allegiances.
 

Whatever the good or ills of a Trump presidency, the result for many, was a shock.

The scriptures say that we should judge a tree by it's fruit. Fruit takes time to grow and develop. Fruit is a real evidence of the quality of the tree, and of the environment around it.

All we have seen thus far of Trump is foliage. You can tell a lot about the fruit that will come by the foliage and the flower.

Apple blossom will not produce lemons, but rather, unsurprisingly, apples.

The amount of blossom indicates the size of the crop to come.

But you will never know the quality of the fruit until you see and taste it.

For 18 months Clinton and Trump and all the other candidates who fell by the wayside, waged an assault on the American publics attention as they vied for votes.

They presented themselves as a solution to what they perceived to be the nation's problems.

And not only did they present themselves, but they presented the version of themselves that they perceived would be most appealing.

Perhaps Trump, more than any other, was his uncensored self. (You would have to believe so) But let me tell you that that in itself is a presentation. They will also have had advisors on speech and fashion and every aspect of their appearance. There can hardly have been an angle that was not considered in this presentation. The stakes are so high that nothing is left to chance.

They presented their 'best side'.

We will see if the president lives up to the presentation, and if the fruit is as the flower.

Presentation, at least in election, it would seem, is everything.

I have held back on putting the usual verse at the top of today's blog because I wanted you to read it now.

And here it is;

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. ~ Romans 3:25

 Now God is not appealing for your vote, let's get that straight. He does not have need of us, or of our approval. But just focus on the first part of that verse for a moment. God presented Christ.

1. God presents Jesus as the solution.

The problems of the world, as Paul has been hitherto at great pains to convey to us, are manifold, but they boil down to the sin that he has been describing.

And just as Trump and Clinton presented themselves and their views as the solution to the problems of the world that they occupy, God presents Jesus as the solution to the problems of the world. The solution to sin; The atonement.

2. God presents his best side.

I have to be careful here. I am not saying The Son is better than The Father, but rather that The Son (He and The Father being one) highlights the most incredible aspects of Him. Jesus is described as the exact representation of His being. Jesus said, if anyone has seen me, they have seen The Father. And in Hebrews he is described as The radiance of The Father's Glory.  Just in case you didn't get that, allow me to (perhaps somewhat patronisingly) point out that that is the shiniest bit. The brightest bit of all. As if God's glory wasn't awe inspiring enough, Jesus is the very radiance of that; the source and the centre from which it emanates and illuminates. And in being thus glorified, unlike Trump, he does not take the glory for himself, but rather with it, he glorifies The Father.

Listen. Jesus is the best God has to offer.

3. God presents his Son

Now, every morning I would be presented at the school gates by my mum. She would present her son. On a couple of occasions he would surprise his mother by presenting himself on her doorstep an hour or so later!

And when I was at school I would have to answer the call for the register. They would call my name and I would reply, Present!

In truth I was only present, most of the time, in body only. My ,mind and my spirit were often elsewhere. I digress.

On the first Christmas day God dropped his son off at the school gates, so to speak. He presented him to the world. If you have seen the Disney movie 'The Lion King', you will remember that the new-born prince Simba was held aloft for all the animals to pay homage.

But Christ did not have a grand arrival.

He was acknowledged by shepherds and Magi, sure. but by and large his coming was uneventful. Certainly on the world stage, it went unnoticed. No ear can hear his coming, as the carol has it.

You see, in the presentation, Jesus was never about show and image, or pomp or ceremony. Born in a stable, the son of a carpenter. But somehow this just highlights his majesty, because true glory cannot be hidden. It is not just gold that glitters. Jesus was and is the genuine article.


And he was, for 33 years, very present. He lived, and he lived, laughed and loved fully. He was present.

And he was presented to his people, as he arrived in Jerusalem, hailed as the Messiah.

But the praise of people and the presentation of their adoration proved to be froth, at best, with no substance.

And then he was presented to the whole world as he was lifted up on a Roman cross for all to see. And they saw. And they mocked, and they jeered.

And when he had died and been laid in a tomb, God raised him from the dead and presented him again to the world, the victor over sin and death.

Vindicated and glorified.

Jesus presented himself to the disciples and many others before he ascended into heaven.

And then he gave the task to us of presenting him to the world, through the gospel and with the power of the Holy Spirit as their hope and saviour.

That this man, the man Christ Jesus, is the only true leader of the free world, because those he leads, he sets free. If the son sets you free then you are free indeed.

4. Jesus will present himself to the world.

And he will present himself again to the world, when he returns in power, but this time not only as saviour, but as King and judge.

So, to (mis)quote Woody Guthrie; It's Jesus Christ for President. Let the hallelujah's ring.