Eagle's Wings - February 5, 2012
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- Published on Friday, 03 February 2012 16:26
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but too bad.
Roman 13: 1, 3
A leading presidential candidate, I won’t mention any names, stated on Wednesday, after winning the Florida primary, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich. They're doing just fine.”
As Lutheran Christians that statement should be, at the very least, alarming, because, our Lutheran heritage holds good government up as a gift from God, and is in place to take care of the people in its charge.
In his explanation of the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, in the Small Catechism, Luther states: “What then does daily bread mean?” Answer: Everything included in the necessity and nourishment for our bodies...upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.
The Declaration of Independence contains such language for making sure the government gives its people their daily bread, and that the people have a say in how the government gives daily bread, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
In other words, we have been given the gift of good government, and a right to be part of it. But more importantly, we also have the right and duty to change it when we see it is being ineffectual, harmful, or complacent to the very people It has been called to protect.