‘Soldiers do not get tied up in civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them’ – 2 Timothy 2:4 (NLT)
Those of us who bemoaned the rancorous leadership style of Donald Trump the past four years have reason to celebrate these days. After a contentious election, the American people have collectively chosen Joe Biden to be the President of the United States. Although Trump refuses to concede, and is already (and predictably) plotting mischief, it nonetheless appears that the long night has come to an end and a new day has dawned. We have every reason to believe that, come January 20th, 2021, there will be a new occupant in the White House.
As I listened to Joe Biden’s victory speech on Saturday, November 7th, I could not help but rejoice. To hear the President-elect speak of decency and healing, after four years of trash talk and division, was refreshing to say the least. My family and I expressed our thankfulness that this man, and not the other, had been granted the privilege of leading this country for the next four years. We felt as if he were the right man for the right time, a grandfatherly figure who could help heal the nation’s wounds. Where before we had little hope of progress on issues of deep concern to our family, we sensed hope rising once again.
But even as I felt hope rising, I felt the check in my heart: ‘don’t get carried away with this.’ Why? Well, maybe the best way to explain that is to go back 1700 years in history.
It was early in the 4th Century, and Christians had emerged from the Diocletian Persecution, one of the worst periods of persecution against the Church in its history. While it was severe, it wasn’t anything new. For three centuries the Church had been in Rome’s sights. Christians were hunted, burned, thrown to the lions, and slain by gladiators. Denied the right to freely practice their faith, they lived in fear of exposure and death. Then, in 313 AD a Roman named Constantine won a major battle at the Milvian Bridge. He claimed to have had a vision of the Cross and painted it on the shields of his warriors. After he won, he credited the victory to the God of the Christians, and announced he was now one himself. In the ensuing years, he consolidated power and became Emperor. He legalized Christianity and made himself an ally of the church (though perhaps it would be more accurate to say he enlisted the church as an ally to bolster his empire). In the years that followed, under Constantine’s predecessors, there was a bit of an ebb and flow to this alliance, but in the end, Christianity emerged as the official religion of the empire. The cementation of politics and religion had been made complete.
Christians were generally ecstatic over this change, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. Where they were once hunted and killed, they were now coddled and exalted. But alas, this switch came at great cost. Seduced by the power and security of empire, the Church changed dramatically. Where once it had been nonviolent, even pacifistic, it now took up arms in service to the empire. Where once it worked at the margins of power, with the weak and vulnerable, it now stood at the center of power, with the strong and powerful. Where once it worked from the bottom up, transforming society from below, it now worked from the top down, controlling society from above. Where it had once stood at the crossroads of culture, showing the world another way, that is, Jesus’ way, it now stood in the halls of power, copying the way of the world. The Church became a servant to the empire, rather than a counter-cultural witness to it. It became so entangled in the empire’s affairs, that it soon lost sight of what the Master was calling it to do and be.
We have been paying the price ever since. For 1700 years, the Church of the west has been off course, most often following the way of the dragon instead of the way of the Lamb.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t a precise parallel to our current situation. Christians haven’t exactly been thrown to the lions these past four years (though I hasten to add that many have been separated from their families and thrown in cages), and Biden didn’t gain power after a battle wherein he claimed to have seen a vision of Christ. But the lesson nonetheless applies. Christians should never align themselves with empire. They should never entangle themselves so deeply with political power that they become unfaithful to their mission. This principle applies across the board, to both Republican and Democratic versions of empire (or any other for that matter). And yes, both are versions of empire. We may prefer one over the other, but make no mistake, both seek to control from above, both employ violence to achieve their ends, and neither follows (at least not completely) in the footsteps of Jesus. Democratic and Republican regimes are regimes of empire, and neither has a better claim to our allegiance. Our allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ alone.
This doesn’t mean that we can never work with government leaders, just that we need to be careful. I recently read (for the umpteenth time) The Lord of the Rings. (I confess to a certain thrill when I read of the fall of the Tower of Barad Dur as the election results came in). One of my favorite characters is Treebeard, the wise old Ent who shepherds the trees of Fangorn forest. This time around, I was struck by something Treebeard said to Merry and Pippin when asked which side of the battle he was on:
‘We might do some things together. I don’t know about sides. I go my own way; but your way may go along with mine for a while…I am not altogether on anybody’s side, because no one is altogether on my side, if you understand me…there are some things, of course, whose side I am altogether not on; I am against them altogether.’
I love those words. They remind me that as a follower of Jesus, I should not be altogether on anyone’s side, other than His. Still, there are some things I may be able to do with others, for our ways may travel together for a time, and there are some things, of course, on whose side I can never be. In the real world, and particularly in this moment, this means that Christians can work with Biden and his administration on all sorts of things, the sorts of things on which our ways travel together, such as: fighting racism, helping the poor, caring for creation, restoring decency, and building bridges of understanding between people who do not agree. These are all consistent with the way of Jesus, and to the extent we can advance them together, wonderful! It also means that Christians may need to stand against other ‘sides’ when they, say: promote racism, neglect the poor, despoil creation, act indecently, or divide people with the politics of fear and hate. In this season, we can look for ways to work with the ‘sides’ that promote causes consistent with the heart of God, even as we stand against the ‘sides’ that fight against those same causes.
But we dare not make the mistake of believing that we are on the side of any political party. We are not. The Empire, however benevolent it may seem at a given moment, is not the Kingdom of Jesus. Biden and the Democrats are not marching in lockstep with Kingdom values. As the Church, Christians have a different mission and different means than those of empire. Yes, we may do some things together, but let us not pretend we are ‘altogether on the same side.’
Shortly before the election, I posted two Christian ‘to do lists’ in the event that Trump or Biden won. The point of the article was that no matter who won, our work would be the same. Here is my list of things to do in the event Biden won (which, again is the same as if Trump won):
- Hope
- Pray
- Stand against racism and bigotry
- Speak up for immigrants and refugees
- Care for Creation
- Advocate for and serve the poor and vulnerable
- Speak truth
- Do justice
- Love God
- Love my family
- Love my neighbors
- Love my enemies
- Seek the Kingdom
- Anticipate the return of Jesus
- Point people to Jesus
I might now add to the list, ‘do not succumb to the temptation to join the empire.’
This list is important folks. Because even when Trump is gone and Biden is President, our job is not done. Trumpism isn’t going anywhere, nor should we think it is a cultural aberration. It is the latest iteration of the age old fallen imperial tendencies to exert control via the means of fear and rage, to divide populations in order to conquer them, to marginalize certain people groups, to steal from the poor, and to achieve absolute power. These tendencies are as ancient as Old Scratch himself, and sadly will remain with us until the day of Christ’s return. Until that day, disciples of Jesus must be on guard against them, even as we stand on guard against the excesses and abuses of other political philosophies as well.
Folks, we still have work to do. We need to show the world, including Biden and his administration no less than any other, the Jesus Way of doing things. As we do, we can follow Treebeard’s advice and do some things together. But let us remember, our allegiance is to another King.
Under Christ’s Mercy,
Brent