I had a conversation with a friend a few years ago who was telling me why she liked a particular presidential candidate. She went on and on about how she liked the things that this particular candidate was proposing, what she thought of his character, et cetera. At the end of the conversation she said it was too bad she would have to vote for the other candidate. When I asked her, “Why?” she responded, “Well, my candidate is down in the polls and I don’t want to waste my vote on someone who is going to lose the election.”
Voting a particular way to just to be a part of the majority or, worse, not voting at all is a serious problem in our nation and our world. There are many instances where just one vote may have changed the course of history.
Had it not been for one vote in 1776, our official language in the United States would have been German instead of English. Had it not been for one vote in 1845, the state of Texas would not have been a part of the United States. One vote caused King Charles I of England to be executed in 1649. In 1923, Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party in Germany by just one vote. One vote can, literally, change the word.
Today’s Gospel reading contains a crucial message for every Christian: Jesus makes it clear that we possess dual citizenship. We are citizens of two worlds: citizens of earth and citizens of heaven. Because of our dual citizenship, we have responsibilities toward both worlds: toward God and toward Caesar, to use Jesus’ term. We have a very serious responsibility as Christians and as citizens of our world to elect people who will promote our ideals, who will fight for what is just and right. We have a responsibility to work with our government leaders, to help them to fulfill their responsibilities, that justice, peace and prosperity might be a part of our secular society.
What happens, however, if our dual citizenship leads us into an open conflict between our God and our country? We hope this will never happen but, if it does, we must resolve the conflict in such a way that we do not compromise our primary responsibility to God. Christians have had to do this throughout history. They did it in Roman times when thousands of Christians accepted death rather than worship the emperor. They did it in the 17th century when thousands of European Christians fled to America to practice their faith, and they’re still doing it in modern times.
Consider the case of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant, a husband and father of three young children back in the 1930’s. He strongly opposed Adolf Hitler as he rose to power. When Hitler marched into Austria and held a mock vote to show that people supported him, Jägerstätter was the only person in his small village who didn’t vote for Hitler. When war broke out in 1939, Jägerstätter refused to fight in Hitler’s army. He even refused noncombatant service because his opposition to everything Hitler stood for was so strong. Finally, on August 2, 1943, he was arrested and executed by the military.
Jägerstätter had two obligations: one to God and one to his country. When they conflicted in his own conscience, he chose to remain faithful to his primary obligation: to God. This is sometimes difficult to do, for following our conscience, following the ways of God may not be popular and may have consequences in this life that are not to our liking. We know, in faith, however, that the life to follow is forever and that the rewards of this life are nothing compared to those in the life to follow.
Let us close with President Thomas Jefferson’s prayer for our nation: “Almighty God, you have given us this good land as our heritage. Bless our land, save us from violence and every evil way. Defend our liberties. Endow with the Spirit of wisdom those to whom, in your name, we entrust the authority of government. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, do not allow our trust in you to fail.”+
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