I find Republican/Conservative criticism of Obama as “messiah” to be fascinating and a whole lot hypocritical. Where were these Republicans when George W. Bush was hailed as the savior of mankind, the vanquisher of evil for all time and the one who would set all the captives free? Where were they when at least one church in Orange County, California, told its Sunday school students in 2004 that if Bush isn’t re-elected, Jesus couldn’t come back and the rapture couldn’t happen? And where were they when adulating crowds yearned for Sarah Palin as God’s anointed to lead the United States?
Obama’s followers are motivated by religious (or religious-like) fervor — they want to heal the world and let justice roll down like waters. The Kingdom of God that they seek is an earthly one they build with their own hands. They read prophetic commands for justice and think we human beings are capable of being just. But I find them little different than rightists who are seeking a Kingdom of God built by American military power and domination of the world, in which God’s anointed one rules from the White House.
It should be remembered, God does the anointing, and not us. In Isaiah 45, God proclaims that Cyrus, the shahanshah of Persia, “his anointed one” (משיהו) even though Cyrus “does not know” God. And is not even one of God’s people.
9:14 am on November 13, 2008
