This passage reminds us that Jesus is a king with a kingdom. In fact, he is the King of kings. The OT frequently refers to God as the King of kings, but in John's Revelation it is Jesus that is referred to in this manner. He is the authority that is above all earthly authorities. (see Rev. 1:5 for starters).
This hierarchy of authority does not mean that we as Christians can disregard all other authority but God's. But it does imply that, in this fallen world, this world where sin has corrupted everyone and all things, and even kings, there will inevitably be conflict between the way of King Jesus and the ways of our earthly authorities.
It's up to every Christian to figure out, alone or in community, when such conflicts arise and what might be the appropriate response. Someone should write a book about this, and probably has, but I'd just like to make a few fundamental observations.
First, if you're one of those people who insist that one political party or another is the party that Christians ought to support, you have made politics your king of kings, and Jesus is perhaps just one of the lesser kings.
Another way of saying this is, you have declared your allegiance to a party, or a faction within a party, or a political leader, and made that allegiance the foremost thing, the guiding principle in your life and thought. This sad phenomenon is on display all the time in Christian circles. One of the tells that someone has made, say, a political leader their king of kings is that they will brook no criticism of that person. It would seem, to judge by them, that the political leader (or party, etc.) can do no wrong. Their support looks for all the world like reverence.
Secondly, Christians should be mistrustful of earthly authority and political systems generally. Not at war with it (more on that in a moment), but quite certain that their hope does not lie in politics. A Christian who is also a political partisan must be a deeply conflicted soul.
Every Christian since Jesus first called a handful of fishermen away from their nets and began a walkabout in Galilee ought to understand that he or she is an alien in this world, whatever political system they live under. That goes for us in America no less than to those who were persecuted under Caesar. If for a time the empire feels kindly or at least tolerant toward you, count yourself blessed. But it will not always be that way. At least, not if we hold to our primary allegiance.
Given all this, how then should we live? That has always been the big question, right? All I have to say at the moment is, read chapter 12 of Romans. It's all there.
No comments:
Post a Comment