For the next three weeks, expect to be inundated by messages using every platform, trying to get your attention through any and all portals in search of your decision-making process leading up to the mid-term ballot. Some of the appeals will focus on policy – rather than bold-faced partisanship – but others will hope to tap your decision about power: whether to deny it to the “bad guys” or to entrust it to the “good guys.” Can you hold on for another 22 days ‘til November 3rd? 

          This longing for the good guys to win elections and wield power isn’t a recent phenom; it’s been that way since the Garden. Turn your history clock back about 2000 years and listen-in on Jesus’ campaign swing through Israel during his three-year tour to announce the good news.

          His good news was not yet the Gospel of Salvation; that epic headline wouldn’t roll off the presses until after the Resurrection. Until then, there was ample cause for positive anticipation based on what God had already promised to have in motion. What was he focused on?

          Jesus’ biographers exposed the focus of his messaging over and over: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom” (Matthew 9:35). “Jesus said, ‘I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent’” (Luke 4:43).

          The Jews had been in political bondage for hundreds of years, though hearing every Sabbath day a recounting of God’s promises surrounding his plan for restoring Israel to their status of a Kingdom under the reign of a righteous King. While living with Rome’s oppressive presence across generations, they could only hope.

          Jesus announced God’s plan to set his redemptive plan in motion. Central to those Old Testament prophecies was the Messiah; anticipation was rising that Jesus might fit the bill.

          Twelve mid-life men put their lives on hold to follow Jesus and become his confidants. The more they watched and listened, the more they believed that a plan was in play to deal with Rome and renew Israel’s independence.

          Their hopes were heightened when Jesus made promises like this: “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:23). 

          The “what” was no longer – for them – in question: Jesus was the promised Messiah who would bring in the Kingdom of God. The dominant remaining issue was the timing: when would God trigger the events that would put crowns on their heads and thrones under their bods?

          The Passover night that found them all together in Jerusalem was the pivotal reset of their own visions for pending promotion. It became clear through example while getting clarified through explanation. Jesus’ teaching – by depiction and by description – came to them from their blindside.

          The first big shift: elevation in the Kingdom would follow a path of servanthood. Their annual reenactment of Passover began with Jesus washing their feet (a job typically left to the lowest class). The point: the tool belt for Kingdom leaders would be fitted with a towel and a bowl showing signs of wear.

          The second gamechanger came over the next 24 hours. Rather than a coronation-eve, invitation-only celebration, they would follow Jesus to Gethsemane and Golgotha. Two shocking elements were brought into view: a Cup – of suffering – and a Cross – of sacrifice. The Cup and Cross were Jesus’ strategic additions to the recipe that would satisfy his Father’s justice and secure the redemption of people who would hear the story and – by faith – join his family.

          The 12 first-gen leaders of our faith expected to be rewarded with promotion within days. Instead, they followed Jesus’ model to the end of their lives. The Towel and Bowl became their pursuit; their own Cups and Crosses became their destiny.

          It won’t be long: the promises Jesus made to them – and, to us! – will be realized, IF we follow the same path. “Thy Kingdom come!” will be answered – finally! – in the affirmative.

          That’s a ballot we cast every day; it’s an election that determines whether we’ll someday be the victors. Will you vote for suffering and sacrifice? I’m checking those two choices by faith…

 — Bob Shank