Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s new leader-Demon or Messiah?
He's neither but this is why I voted for him
I was not originally
going to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. I was going to vote for Andy
Burnham. A much safer bet I thought.
Jeremy was just the wrong type of leader , who couldn't possibly win a
general election. He was too old, too scruffy, hadn’t gone to the
right university and had the wrong track record as a rebel rather than a front
bencher. Most of all he was too extreme and controversial. On Facebook I
publicly endorsed this widely shared view of Jeremy Corbyn. Yet when I thought
and prayed about it I realised I'd been looking at it all the wrong way. It was
when I tried to look at it from God’s perspective, a biblical perspective, that I had my Damascus
road type conversion. I realised to my surprise that Jeremy was the right
choice, because e he was the one who best fits what God requires of a leader (and
indeed of all of us): “…and what does the Lord require of you? To
act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6 v 8
Let's be clear. Whilst
Jeremy Corbyn may share his initials, as a Christian I believe Jesus Christ is
the only true Messiah. I also believe He will one day return earth to bring
true and lasting peace, prosperity and justice for the poor and for all. In the
mean time we have to settle for mere fallible men as our leaders. Yet as a Christian
I believe in choosing a leader you need to assess how both their character and
message measure up against the big JC. They will all fall short of course.
However, I found to my surprise that Jeremy Corbyn ,despite professing no faith
in Him, best matched both Christ's character and message.
And I found some surprising parallels between the two.
An unlikely leader
Both men seemed unlikely
leaders. Both were apparently "the wrong sort." Jeremy is too old,
had the wrong experience, the wrong education , from the wrong wing of the party, etc., etc. But Jesus's background
would also have marked him out as "the wrong sort" to be a leader. He
was untrained and inexperienced as a teacher- not schooled as a rabbi and with
the wrong background; an illegitimate son of a simple carpenter from Nazareth.
As one of his critics said, can anything good come from there? Interestingly, being
the “wrong sort” is something they seem to share with
most of the greatest leaders in the bible God chose. Abraham, father of the
Jewish nation, only started to father the nation in his 90s. Moses, the founder
of the Jewish nation and religion, led the Jews from Egyptian slavery towards
the promised land. But when he was an old man of 80 with a criminal record as a
murderer and a phobia of public speaking. One of Israel's great ruler- judges
Gideon, who led them to victory against the much stronger Midianites, was from
the least clan from the least tribe and was excessively cautious. David, the
greatest King in Israel's history, when chosen as King was too young surely.
Wouldn’t his bigger, older brothers have been the more obvious choice?
And Paul, the great evangelist of the early church, started out as one of its
greatest persecutors. In fact, very often it is the people who in human eyes
seem the least likely sort to be leaders are in fact the right sort in God’s
eyes . “People look at outward appearances, but
the Lord looks at the heart”.
1 Samuel 16 v 7
A heart for the poor and needy
“Speak
up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are
destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31 v 8/9
When it comes to the
heart there is something else that that Jesus shares with Jeremy Corbyn; a heart for the poor and needy. Jesus saw his
mission particularly to “bring
good news to the poor”
(both spiritually and materially). (Luke
4 v 18). He reached out to heal and help them. He saw himself as very much
on side of poor and expected his followers to put that heart for the poor and
needy into action. He challenged his followers to give generously to the poor.
A mark of his true followers was to be how they helped the poor and needy and a
mark of those who were not was how they ignored them (Matthew 25 v 34-36).
Jeremy Corbyn as a politician
makes it very much his own mission to support the poor and needy. For example, speaking
out against welfare changes that have
doing such great harm done to poor and needy in our country and speaking out
for the plight of refugees.
A peacemaker who mixed with sinners
“…blessed
are the peacemakers…”
(Matthew 5 v 9)
Jesus was the
ultimate peacemaker, reconciling men and God through his crucifixion and in his
earthly mission he demonstrated this by reaching out to reconcile those
considered to be beyond society’s pale, “the sinners” such as
prostitutes and tax collectors. Indeed he was much criticised by the
establishment for even eating with such outcasts. He also spoke out against armed violence “Those who live by the sword will died by the
sword,” he warned Peter. His was a peaceful revolution of heart and
mind. You will also hear much criticism of Jeremy Corbyn for having associated
with his own “sinners” like palestinian terrorist groups. Yet
he has done so only in order to try to bring reconciliation and peace. Indeed, Jeremy
Corbyn has strongly spoken out against
the use of violent force in Iraq and elsewhere and instead encouraged more
peaceful means of resolving conflicts.
Of good character
“Now
a leader must be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate,
self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to
drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.”
1 Timothy 3 v 2/3
It’s
rather difficult to compete with Jesus over “good character” as he was and
is the perfect, sinless son of God. However, good character is very important in
a leader and Jeremy Corbyn exemplifies
key points of good character that the bible says should be looked for in
a leader. He is indeed temperate, gentle and self-controlled in his speech and
does not do “personal” sniping and insults(but sticks to the
issues). Anyone who has met him even if they strongly disagree with him speaks
about how “nice” and decent he is, for example offering
to share his sandwiches with them on the
train. He is able to communicate a clear message. Far from being a drunkard he
is teetotal (and a vegetarian). He is certainly not a lover of money. He is no
champagne socialist but lives quite simply, wearing ordinary (sometimes
slightly scruffy) clothes. With no flash car, he rides a bike and uses public
transport. He generally makes the lowest expenses claims of all MPs. Most importantly, there is no hint that he is
open to any sort of bribe. (“By justice a king gives a country
stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.” Proverbs 29 v 4)
The Humility of the Servant King
Humility is too
often devalued as a leadership quality, but it should be a key part of the
character looked for in a leader. This was exemplified in Jesus, “ who, being in very nature God, did
not consider equality with God something
to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the
very nature of a servant …he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2 v 6-8. Like Jesus Jeremy Corbyn does not seek
leadership for his own personal advantage but only to fulfil a mission for the
good of others. If he wanted to grasp at personal advancement he would not have
spent over 30 years as a backbencher, speaking up for often unfashionable
causes. As the Servant King Jesus rode into Jerusalem not on chariot or mighty
steed but on a humble donkey. I guess Jeremy Corbyn as new Labour leader will
enter Westminster on his push bike.
A different style
Jesus spoke the truth straightforwardly and
honestly, in a language ordinary people understood (including his use of
parables), yet with real conviction and authority. Many remarked on Jesus’s
teaching being different in style to the teachers they were used to. Jeremy
Corbyn too has a very different style of
speaking to his contemporaries;
straightfoward and direct,
answering not avoiding questions. He says what he believes and speaks from the
heart, rather than using use the spin
and soundbites favoured by his rivals and avoiding personal sniping. Many find his style a
breath of fresh air, just as Jesus’s hearers did.
Challenging the rich and powerful establishment
Jesus was no
respecter of the rich and powerful and was prepared to challenge them directly.
Jesus warned “woe to you
rich”, who would find it very hard to get into his kingdom and he often
encouraged them often to give away their wealth. He tackled head on the hypocrisy of the
religious establishment- the Pharisees and Sadducees, speaking out against them
- “woe to you Pharisees.”
Jeremy Corbyn too challenges the establishment, the vested interests of the
rich and powerful, who have grown ever more so on the backs of poor and
ordinary folk.
Challenging orthodox beliefs
Hand in hand with
his challenge to the establishment of his day, Jesus’ message challenged
the orthodox beliefs and attitudes of the Jewish religious establishment, Sadducees and even Pharisees (who shared some
key beliefs with him) . He spoke out against their excessive legalism, ritual
and judgmentalism, and their lack of compassion; too much love of money & status and too
little love for God and men. Jesus’
message in word and deed was like a “new wine”. It was and is a message of love,
compassion, reconciliation and forgiveness that crossed national boundaries , extending
even to the Jews’ bitterest enemies- the
Romans and Samaritans (“love your enemies”, “turn the other cheek”).
His was and is the supreme message of hope through grace. Jeremy Corbyn’s
message is also very much at odds with
our current political establishment, both Tory and New Labour. It is, as he
says, a kinder politics that takes pity
on the poor and refugees, that rejects the orthodox blind faith in the free market (that actually
make our public services and our economy run worse not better) or unquestioning
trust in austerity economics (that actually stifles growth) or in a nuclear
deterrent (that actually deters no one and makes the world a more less
dangerous place) and that advocates higher taxes on the rich (in order to lower
the burdens on the poor, ordinary and young ) and offers real hope of a better
future for all.
Like Jesus Jeremy
Corbyn is the man who seemed to come from nowhere on a sudden popular wave. Having
spent 30 years in relative obscurity, like Jesus he was suddenly thrust into
limelight with crowds flocking to hear his message.
Like Jesus, Jeremy Corbyn is a leader with a message of apparently mass popular appeal, but an appeal rejected by
an establishment in whom he has had lots of enemies. In Jesus’
case these enemies were the Pharisees, Sadducees , scribes and teachers of law
(and Satan behind them). From early on they were plotting his downfall, because
he challenged what they believed and stood for. Jeremy Corbyn faces his own
raft of enemies in the political establishment today, who are very much conspiring to bring him down
(starting even before he was “up”) ; the predominantly right wing press
and media papers (and even much of the more left wing media like the Guardian),
big business , the ruling Conservative politicians of course and even most current
and former leading figures in his own party.
His crucifixion?
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly yet
humbly on the donkey to the acclaim of the crowds praising their new leader.
However, less than a week later the
establishment forces of his day had got him. The scribes Pharisees and Sadduccees had apparently completely
defeated him. It was a campaign based on lies and half truths about him and his
message. Through these means they got him arrested, twisted the arm of the
Roman governor to put his life to a public vote and then persuaded that public
to vote for his crucifixion. Jeremy Corbyn I have no doubt is destined for his
own crucifixion in the press and media with another campaign of lies and half
truths. This will be spawned by a mass of establishment forces and voices who
are surely bound to conspire together to
try to bring him down. The vicious campaigns launched against his predecessors
Neil Kinnock and Ed Milliband will be as nothing compared to what Jeremy Corbyn
will surely face. With so many voices speaking against him what chance does he
have of keeping the voting public on his side?
The end result- failure or victory?
Jesus was a man of
miracles who had healed thousands of incurable diseases and had fed 5,000 with
a few loaves and fishes. But his earthly ministry ended in apparent utter
failure in a criminal’s death on the cross. Yet in fact his
greatest miracle, his ultimate victory was achieved in and through his crucifixion.
God was working through his crucifixion
to pay the price for our sins , rescue us from Satan’s clutches and reconcile us with Himself. And
he proved his victory by doing the impossible and rising from the dead and
appearing to his followers .
The forces ranged
against Jeremy Corbyn are such that to me it seems to me an almost impossible
task that he could overcome them and win the next general election. This is why I was originally not going to
vote for him. He has already achieved something of a political miracle in being
elected labour leader as the original rank outsider. Yet to win over a whole
electorate is going to be a much higher mountain to climb. The first election
was like climbing Ben Nevis, which he has just conquered very convincingly. However, his next election
will be like scaling Everest. His crucifixion in the media is almost certain.
By some miracle can he overcome this seeming impossibility to be victorious? Jesus of course had the mighty power of
Father God behind him and He specialises in doing the impossible. “With man this is impossible, but with God
all things are possible.” Matthew 19 v 36.
Pray for victory?
This raises an interesting
question. To my knowledge Jeremy Corbyn
does not believe in Jesus. However could his supporters who do believe in Jesus
pray in aid the power of the almighty to achieve the apparently impossible victory
? Does God answer those sort of prayers or does he just leave it completely to the free will
of individuals whom they vote for (and for which they must later account to Him
)? After all, dreadful as I believe they are, there have been plenty of rulers
far worse than our current British government. And such rulers have remained in
power for many years despite earnest Christians praying against them. (Few
worse than the evil emperor Nero who heavily persecuted the very earliest Christians).
Yet the bible tells us that “he
deposes kings and raises up others” (Daniel 2 v 21). That was certainly seen
with God’s original chosen people, Israel. And there certainly were
times when He raised up rulers who did not believe in Him, such as the Persian King
Cyrus. But since the end of the original Jewish state does God still intervene
in affairs of state like that? Some would say that He did with the later Roman
emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity and then adopted Christianity
as Rome’s official religion. And many would also say that God has done
that in the life of our own nation. Most
obviously He did so perhaps 75 years ago when
Winston Churchill called on the nation to pray to bring about the
miracle of Dunkirk. So what about today? Certainly God could intervene. Whether
and when He chooses to do so I simply don’t know. But in the knowledge that He can
and the hope that He might, I for one am already praying, praying that He might
deliver a seemingly impossible election victory for Jeremy Corbyn in five years’
time. I do so because I believe the
society he would help bring about as our Prime Minister, whilst still very
imperfect ,will answer Jesus’s call of Matthew 25 so much better than
the society we are currently becoming.
