Rev. Martin Marty died last week at the age of 97. A prolific writer, teacher and preacher, he was the kind of Christian who gave Christianity a good name. When I interviewed him in 1997, he was heading into “retirement” but remained active and lived another 28 years. He had a strong connection to Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, where he served early in his career. Marty was recently preceded in death by President Jimmy Carter, another Christian who gave Christianity a good name.
Both were humanists as well as Christians. That’s the key. Jesus was also a humanist, perhaps the ultimate humanist. He connected with people. As those Super Bowl ads like to say, Jesus gets us. If he didn’t, his teachings would have faded into obscurity.
Back then, Marty co-directed the Public Religion Project. He hoped to bring opposing points of view together to talk and “where possible, bring forth the healing instead of only the killing side of religion.” Obviously we have a long way to go on that front, judging by the situation in Gaza and Israel — but also in this country, where far too many “Christians,” for far too long, have been busy giving Christianity a bad name.
I was reminded of all this because today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, 40 days of reckoning, leading up to Easter, celebrating the resurrection of the “ascendant master,” as a friend of mine likes to call Jesus, whom so many Americans claim to follow.
Martin Marty’s call for religious dialogue was admirable, but there are also times when we need to channel our inner biblical prophet. This is one of those times.
Not long ago, I heard an old church hymn, a favorite of mine growing up. The refrain is simple and clear: “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Far too many Christians fail that test because they are Christians in name only.
On Ash Wednesday, Catholics get the conspicuous black dot, with ashes from burnt palm fronds, thumbed onto their foreheads as the priest recites some variation of “From dust you came and to dust you shall return.” The faithful are well-sooted to think about their mortality, but are they as well-suited to think about how far they fall short of Christian ideals? Not all Christian denominations indulge in Ash Wednesday, but most ask the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” as a guide to their moral behavior. Some even wear bracelets with “WWJD” to remind them.
I don’t know what Jesus would do in every situation, but I do know this: Jesus would not have voted for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
Will we know you are Christian by your vote? The majority of Evangelical Christians and Catholics voted for Trump. Did you understand that, in doing so, you were giving Christianity/Catholicism a bad name?
Martin Marty and Jimmy Carter understood that love is at the heart of being Christian. In his epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said love is patient, kind, not envious or boastful, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful (or revengeful). It doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing. Instead it rejoices in truth.
Does that sound like Donald Trump to you? Just the opposite. Trump is to hate as Jesus is to love. He is a liar and criminal of surpassing cruelty whereas Jesus was a holy, compassionate prophet of transformative love. So how could a Christian vote for someone who has nothing in common with Christ?
Jesus did have a thing or two to say about hypocrites. He famously called them “whitened sepulchers” (appropriate for Christians who support white male dominance). What would Jesus do? He definitely would have chased Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and Elon Musk out of the temple, as he did with the money-changers, for desecrating a holy space.
I’m also pretty sure I know what John the Baptist would do: what he always did, calling sinners to repent. If he were here today, he would say, “If you voted for Donald Trump, you have sinned! How will you repent?”
Wearing sackcloth and ashes was the traditional method. Sackcloth keeps one’s sinfulness close to the skin and a sooty forehead keeps it close to the mind. What would the modern version of repentance look like?
That’s up to you, but you have to recognize you sinned before you can repent. That part hasn’t changed.
According to Pope Francis, another Christian who gives Christianity a good name, we are all sinners, even the Old Testament prophets who spoke truth to power. Professing to be Christian isn’t enough. You have to earn it. If people don’t know we are Christians by our love, then we have our work cut out for us. And if people know you aren’t truly Christian by your vote, then the prophets of old have a message: Confess your sin and repent.
In Jon Pavlovitz’s wonderful book, If God is Love, Don’t Be a Jerk, he speculates that if Jesus were here today he would say to all of us, “You had one job. Love one another.”
Instead, you voted for Trump.