Essays From West of 98: A Troublesome Burden
Every decision-maker has a value system and it matters
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“Sermon on the Mount,” Jacques Callot, 1635 (National Gallery of Art)
What does it mean to live out your faith as an elected official? And why does it matter?
This is a topic which I approach with care, for several reasons. I am no expert on anything but my own life and I am not entirely sure that I qualify as an expert on that. Everyone has their own lived experiences and perspectives, so your mileage on the topic of faith may vary from my own. I have many friends, supporters, and constituents whose beliefs differ from my own, sometimes wildly so. I have a deep and abiding respect for all humanity, so I take care to represent my faith accordingly.
Which brings me to the cornerstone of the Gospels.
It is no secret in this space that I take very seriously the two greatest commandments (love God, love neighbor).1 In “The Burden of the Gospels,” Wendell Berry writes:
“The proposition that love, forgiveness and peaceableness are the only neighborly relationships that are acceptable to God is difficult for us weak and violent humans, but it is plain enough for any literalist. We must either accept it as an absolute or absolutely reject it.”2
These are difficult propositions no matter your role in life. They become increasingly difficult the more you encounter others who might not feel the same way or who subscribe to a very different value system. Are we obligated to show love, forgiveness, and peaceableness to those people? Even to people who treat us poorly or otherwise show no interest in returning the favor? Oops, there’s a Scripture for that. It’s in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) and it’s disappointingly direct and explicit:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”3
As I embark on a new term as Mayor of Stamford, and as we head into a contentious presidential election season in our country, I find myself compelled to rely on these bedrocks of my value system. Loving God and loving neighbor is no easy task for a single day, much less all day, every day. I strive to get a little better at it each day, knowing that perfection will never be found this side of Heaven. I also know that it will challenge me. Wendell writes:
“But to take the Gospels seriously, to assume that they say what they mean and mean what they say, is the beginning of troubles…Some of Jesus’ instructions are burdensome not because they involve contradiction, but merely because they are so demanding.”
Almost every day, I am asked to make a decision that affects other people. Sometimes those decisions are small, sometimes they are large. Sometimes I am confronted with the difficulties of love, forgiveness, and peaceableness in a manner that runs contrary to the innate weakness and violence of human nature. I am thankful to have the troublesome burden of the Gospels to guide me accordingly.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and the Rural Church and State and West of 98 podcasts. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to him wherever podcasts are found. Check out the West of 98 Bookstore with book lists for essential reads here.
Matthew 22:36-40 (lately I have started linking the New King James Version of Scriptures. My personal Bible is an NIV and I have long been wary of the inaccessible language of the original King James Version, but I find the NKJV translation is often an excellent conveyance of the underlying sentiment.
This essay is available online and is linked above, but it appears in hard copy in a brilliantly-titled collection called “The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays”.
Matthew 5:43-46