Please, Please Me?
The Beatles’ debut studio album includes the song, “Please, Please Me.” The not-so-subtle lyrics are about a man telling a woman how he pleases her but that she never even tries to please him. It culminates on repeat with, “please, please me.” My guess is that after the Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show, their line worked well at every tour stop.
For as long as I can remember, songs have run through my head whenever my mind is unoccupied. My son pointing out the “tweet tweets” in the trees prompts me to sing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” When he wants to play catch, Cyrcle’s “Red Rubber Ball” pops in my head. Over the past few years, politics and political discussions often prompts, “Please, Please Me” on repeat.
It’s not that I think of the song from my own perspective. Instead, it strikes me that the message from our political leaders too often resembles the Beatles’ message from decades ago—pathetically begging for a someone else to give them what they want. The two political parties sing in unison:
“You never even try!”
“It's so hard to reason with you!”
“[whoa yeah] Why do you make me blue?!”
In a hyper-partisan environment, this type of rhetoric is unsurprising from politicians. Yet hearing the same refrain from our citizenry strikes me as more surprising, particularly when it comes from professing Christians. As David French recently wrote, “the Christian public square is increasingly consumed with a kind of resentful, vengeful fury that’s extraordinarily difficult to square with the words and example of Jesus Christ.”
The issue of inflammatory rhetoric has been on my mind as I was recently reading Dr. Richard Lovelace’s Dynamics of Spiritual Life, which was an excellent and thought-provoking book. Lovelace expressed concern over people who claim to be Christians yet are not clear in understanding their faith. The result is insecurity:
Consciously, they defend themselves as dedicated Christians who are as good as anybody else, but underneath the conscious level there is deep despair…Christians who are insecure in their relationship to Christ can be a thorn bush of criticism, rejection, estrangement, and party spirit. Unsure in the depths of their hearts what God thinks of them, church members will fanatically affirm their own gifts and take fierce offense when anyone slights them.
This idea of Christians as thorn bushes pains me, and it should pain those who place themselves in the Christian camp. I think the excerpt is so convicting because of how smug and certain I was in my youth when it came to politics. But years of working as a lawyer in the political arena not only tempers certainty but illuminates how important it is to prioritize relationships over being right. It is not my nature to let go of a good argument, but bickering too easily severs relationships. And winning an argument at the expense of a relationship is no different than winning a battle to lose the war.
Paul touched on these matters in Romans and did the same—even addressing politics and tribalism—in 1 Corinthians. A critical section that should inform a Christian’s words and actions appears at the end of Romans 12 when Paul tells believers to never repay evil with evil but—if possible—live at peace with everyone. Not only does this mean not taking vengeance but instead extend love to your enemies: feed them if hungry and give them drink if they are thirsty. Put more succinctly with Christ’s own words in John 13: “love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Our culture often has a contorted view of love—one of feeling rather than sacrifice. In the scenarios described above, few people are likely to have warm, affectionate feelings for their enemies. And if people don’t feel like loving their enemy, the best they might muster is ignoring and avoiding. Yet that’s not what Christianity asks; there are actions to show our love. Give food, give drink, offer your cloak, turn your cheek if you receive a blow, do not repay evil when evil is received, and—most importantly—forgive endlessly. These are not feelings. They are instructions on what it means to show love to those who oppose us.
As these instructions relate to politics, I think there is one more section that is relevant. In Romans 13, Paul provides a framework for viewing government leaders. Keep in mind that Paul lived in the era of Caligula, still cited as one of the worst rulers to every live. Later in life, Paul lived under Nero’s reign, who—according to the historian Tacitus—launched a vendetta against Christians by feeding them to dogs to be torn apart, and he ordered them “nailed to crosses or doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.” Needless to say, Paul knew bad politicians.
Yet consider his instructions: “Be subject to governing authorities…[for they] have been put in place by God.” Paul not only instructed to pay taxes—not as a begrudging donation but as a tribute. Even more important than the tangible instruction of paying what is owed, Paul addresses our posture in a similar manner to his treatment of enemies. We are to pay our “respect to whom respect is owed and honor to whom honor is owed.” How significantly are these traits missing for so many believers when politics is the subject?
To be precise, this specific section gives clarity in our attitude toward government—not run-of-the-mill people. But throughout Romans, there is a repetitious theme of giving kindness to others in word and deed. If you don’t find Romans 13 convincing that Christians should have a kind and humble approach to political discourse, keep in mind the broader instruction in Romans 15. We are not to just please ourselves but instead please our neighbors for their good and their edification; “for even Christ did not please Himself.”
This language is a vastly different message from “Please, Please Me!” While Paul (the apostle, not the Beatle) wrote lyrics that may not make for a pop-music hit, they do offer insight into a greater approach to civil discourse. For Christians, there should be nothing more pleasing than pleasing those around us.
