by Berry Friesen (March 16, 2016)
Most Christian congregations walk on eggshells during an election year,
hoping to avoid disunity by keeping the partisanship at a safe distance.
A Jesus-following community of resistance behaves very
differently. It recognizes that the
Republican and Democrat parties offer different versions of the same
thing: a plan for running an empire and
ruling the world. Because it opposes the
imperial project, a community of resistance doesn’t feel invested in one side
or another. Thus, it doesn’t fear being
divided into competing camps of Republicans and Democrats.
What’s more, a community of resistance sees an election year as an
opportunity. Truth rarely spoken will be
revealed during the campaign scramble.
This creates the context for candid conversation about the real world. And “real” conversation creates the
opportunity for change, for conversion, for the flowering of human community
that is honest, generative and life-giving.
In short, a Jesus-following community of resistance doesn’t walk on
eggshells during an election year; it mobilizes for engagement with people,
expecting them to be unusually open to conversation.
Do we see evidence of this approach in the Second Testament writings of
the Bible?
Many Christian leaders characterize those writings as largely
apolitical, reflecting the fact that the first Jesus-following assemblies
pursued religious purposes, not political ones.
Yet such an interpretation reflects a fallacy—imagining religion and
politics to be mutually exclusive realms—and misrepresents the perspective of Second
Testament writers such as the Apostle Paul.
He perceived the Roman Empire to be “the power of darkness” (Col.1:13)
and believed the way of Jesus provided an escape into another way of life.
By definition, the communities Paul nurtured resisted the Empire. They understood themselves to be engaged in a
struggle, “not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil” (Eph. 6:12).
This helps explain why Paul did not need to argue the point at length in
his writings; it also goes far in explaining why the Empire executed Paul for
treason.
The survey of the Bible John K. Stoner and I published in 2014—If Not Empire, What?—recovers this
understanding of the Second Testament writings.
So how does a Jesus-following community of resistance regard the American
state? Does it desire its well-being and
success?
Certainly such a community cares much about the American people, their
cities and towns, their businesses and schools, their families and households.
But it does not view the American state as contributing to the vitality and
sustainability of these human endeavors.
Instead, it sees that state as possessed by an imperial spirit seeking to
dominate the world; its purposes lead to desolation and ruin.
This is where many of us are caught up short. We continue to believe that for our families,
neighbors and friends to thrive, the empire must succeed.
So I suggest a small step. Let’s
get in touch with the anger and restlessness of the US electorate. Empathy for the people with those feelings can
be a doorway to new relationships within our neighborhoods; those relationships
can reveal new and hopeful possibilities.
What better time to do this than an election year?
* A related essay by the same author has been
published by PeaceSigns and by The Mennonite.
