Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
Today is the third morning that we've woken up wondering if the numbers have been tallied yet. The third day that votes have been in (mostly) and yet we don't have a definite answer about who the next president of the United States is. Sure, at this point it's pretty predictable, but many have gotten in trouble the last few days over calling the races too early to be sure.
For us Christians, "the third day" is significant. It’s on the third day that Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, bringing salvation and freedom to a race dead and enslaved by their sin. The disciples lived through an agonizing three days of confusion, pain, and hope, but their faithfulness was rewarded. These last three days give us a unique (small) taste of what those disciples must have felt like. It doesn’t matter who you voted for, you voted for your candidate because you thought he or she would be the one to bring good to this country, to serve the poor and marginalized, and to protect the dignity of human life in their unique way*. We must live in the tension as we wait because there’s nothing else we can do.
A very important distinction needs to be made here as I compare the tension of waiting for the election results to the tension of waiting for the Resurrection and Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The president is not our Savior. This election has been called a battle for the heart and soul of our nation. That might be true; good and evil exists in our world and in the hearts of our politicians. But we cannot pretend like the president is supposed to bring about a new Christendom in the world. We cannot pretend like the president is supposed to be the savior of the United States. We cannot pretend that the president is Jesus’s appointed head on earth. Absolutely not.
We’re living in the tension of this political election, but more importantly we’re living in the tension of a promise. Jesus Christ promised to come again, and He asks us to “go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” in the meantime. I pray that the president and any person in authority is truly a disciple of Jesus Christ… but I don’t think either of them are. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be.
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Don’t let America be your idol. Don’t let Biden or Trump be your idol. America is not the promised land and the president, whoever it is, is not your God.
Today is not the important “third day.” The important “third day” is when we gained a King, not a president.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization
*I’m not making a political, pro-life argument here. Abortion is the greatest sin against the dignity of human life and is never okay and is never to be condoned, but there are many other sins against human dignity also. Republicans and Democrats alike realize that; however, they might or might not agree on what to do about that and they may or may not align with Catholic teaching as they seek to uphold human dignity. That being said, I believe that people vote because they believe in a perceived good. I try to maintain good faith in people. Please don’t write any angry emails!