If The U.S. Election Shocked You, Listen Up!

If Donald J. Trump's win surprised you, you need to listen.  Don't take this as an endorsement of him or his platform.  It's certainly not that.

I do think there's a lesson here.

Early Wednesday morning, the media and political pundits ate crow.  Since he announced his candidacythey scoffed at Donald Trump and dismissed him as a knee-slapping joke.  But yesterday they watched Secretary Clinton concede to President-elect Trump.  They're now as flabbergasted as they were once smug.

It's Thursday, and still so many are scrubbing the disbelief off their faces.

But, surprise!  The 45th president of the United States will be the blue-collar billionaire from Manhattan.

The reason for the surprise: So many are out of touch with people.  And the reason they're out of touch is because their circles of friends and acquaintances are very limited.  Assuming that political talking heads represent the masses and that Katie Perry speaks for all, they never imagined Trump could win.

While the rest, Republicans and Democrats alike, were listening to their echo chambers loop in high-definition with sound cancelling earbuds, Donald Trump had his to ear to the ground and heard the common talk of the common man.  He knew their language.  He sensed their worries and hopes.  So he gave them a voice.

While media and politicians the world-over rib-tickled themselves over his candidacy, he mainstreamed an undercurrent.  He didn't just take swing-states, but he challenged Democrat strongholds.

There is a Christian lesson in this.  Too many Christians were caught off guard also.  After listening to the original announcement of his candidacy, I suspected he was no Aunt Sally, and I thought he'd win.  Win he did.

Being quick to listen and slow to speak is biblical.  So is having regard for the world's deplorables.  We need to reach all people, not just those who tote the zeitgeist.  While Pharaoh was preoccupied with his elites, Moses was mainstreaming an undercurrent of enslaved Hebrews who wiped the smugness off Pharaoh's grin.  While Caesar, Herod, and the Pharisees were pompously admiring the reverberation of their own words, our Lord Jesus, Himself a blue-collar carpenter, launched a movement that left egg on their faces and crow in their mouths.  The same could be said about Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, Nellie Mcclung, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr.  They saw and heard people that weren't in the echo-chamber.  They listened to the mute and saw the invisible.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not equating the valour of Moses or Christ with Mr. Trump.  The President-elect has some serious flaws.  This is no endorsement of him or his policies.  But he listened to the people who others dismissed as an unredeemable basket of deplorables.

And so should we.  If you were surprised Tuesday night, could it be because your circle of friends is too small?

Christ came for all people, but it was the powerless, not the powerful, to whom he tended to minister.  If we don't reach the voiceless with the Gospel, someone else may reach them first with something much worse.

To the Canadians who smugly dismiss this as an American phenomenon, remember Ford Nation, and Coach's Corner is among the most popular few minutes on Canadian television.  Are we listening?  We can unplug the earbuds and take our players off loop.

The marginalized are looking for a blue-collar billionaire who moves heaven and earth.  So let's point them to Jesus.