The Parable of Two Politicians

Now two politicians came to the judge and stood before him. One of them said, “Pardon me, judge. This man and I live in the same town, and we had voters in the same election. The third day after the election, this man said he has more votes than I did. We were alone, there was no one at the poll but the two of us. During the nighttime, this man’s ballot count ended up in a winning total and mine in a losing total after he had been losing when we went to bed. Now he is winning and no one knows why. I believe he got up in the middle of the night and found ballots possibly some of mine which gave him a winning total.  He put the winning ballots in his ballot box and my total in my locked ballot box is losing.

The next morning, we both got up to finish counting ballots—and he, the losing candidate had miraculously won! But when I looked at his ballots closely in the morning light, I saw his ballots were fake. The other man said, “No! The winning ballots are mine and they are all real ballots; you’ve lost fair and square.” But the first man insisted, “No! You are cheating and trying to steal the election; I am the true winner.” And so, they both squabbled before the forbearing but quickly angering judge.

The judge said, “This one says, ‘My ballots will allow me to win and your ballots will cause you to lose’ while that one says, ‘No! Your ballots will cause your loss and mine will allow me victory.’ Then the judge said, “Bring me a torch.” So, they brought a torch for the judge. He then gave an order: “Burn all the living constituents of both men in town. Then split the ballots in half and give half to one and half to the other.”

The man who was a true leader and truly cared about his constituents was deeply moved out of love for his people and said to the judge, “Please, my lord, give the other man all the ballots! Don’t kill my people!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have them. Burn all the people. The ballots!” Then the judge gave his ruling: “Give all the ballots to the first man. Do not burn anyone; the first is the true leader. Send the other into obscurity.” 

When all in the land heard the things the first man had said and the verdict the judge had given, half the people didn't care and the other half were sad because their candidate lost and conceded the race. Yet the irony is that inevitably all that was done in the dark will come to the light. If there was sin, God will judge it as all kings will lay their crowns at Jesus' feet anyway. Those that believe realized their salvation does not lay in elections or men but in the Gospel. For the believer they realize that a sovereign God allows these things to transpire for His glory regardless. So they moved on with their lives rather than desiring to burn down a nation and the people in it.

[The parable applies to both the 2000 and 2020 election]