Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not from this world.” JOHN 18:33-37 (NRSV)
The word du jour is Kingdom. For those who keep track, last Sunday (November 24) was the final day of the church calendar. It is titled, “Christ the King Sunday” and John 18 was the Gospel reading for that day. The appellation ‘King Jesus’ is not without it’s ironies given that Jesus never claims this title directly for himself. When soldiers crucified Jesus and put the inscription King of the Jews above him on the cross, from a Roman perspective it was intended to be a mockery. Not much of a King hanging on a cross. They probably were not thinking it was also prophetic but not in a way they could recognize. The cross signaled the nature of the Kingdom. “A Kingdom that is not anything like what this world knows.” The kingdoms of this earth are defined by sovereign power. One’s ability to exercise one’s will over another person or system to get them to do something they may or may not want to do. It is “power over.”
Whatever else the cross represents it is not “power over.” Drawing a comparison with the Ring of Power in J.R.R. Tolkiens classic the Lord of the Rings and the cross of Jesus, writer and pastor Brain Zahnd says we are “living between the resurrection and the parousia, and now must constantly choose between two ways of rectifying the world - the cross or the Ring of power,”[1] where the Ring of Power as “political might” is a poison whose destiny is always corruption.
Christianity first got to touch this Ring of Power when the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century coalesced the Empire with Christianity. Enter the crusades, the thirty-year war, the Roman inquisition and so forth resulting in the death of millions of Christians and non-Christians in the name of Christianity. “Power over” was the non-negotiable order of their day.
In 1455 the reigning Pope issued the Papal Bull, the "Doctrine of Discovery" that authorized the displacement of indigenous land and people in the new Americas again in the name of God. A set of legal principles, the Doctrine of Discovery gave European nations the right to claim land and sovereignty over any territories that they discovered. The rippling effect was the sanctioning of slavery, and the death of many individuals who did not conform to the new rulers. It was ‘power over’ with the necessary weaponry to enforce it. Tragically, this Papal Bull was not repudiated by the Catholic Church until March 2023 when the Vatican issued a statement condemning the mindset of the cultural and racial superiority that led to it.
Fast forward to 2016, Donald Trump then a Presidential candidate for the not so United States, in the spirit of Constantine addressed students at a small Christian College and warned Christians are under siege, they need to band together and assert their power. And if elected, he promised to lead Christians to unprecedented power over. It turned out that white evangelicals in record numbers bought the message, overlooked his vulgarity and voted not despite their beliefs, but because of them.”[2]
In the most recent election, Nov 2024, Trump again reached out to evangelical Christians for support as a voting bloc. Speaking at an event organized by the conservative group Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida, he assured Christians " get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians." He added: "I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote.”[3]
Like most of Trumps overreaching comments, he never really explained what he meant by “never having to vote again.” It is safe to say, however, his audience left believing that a vote for Trump potentially was an opportunity to kiss his ring of power. “Think of all the good things we could do with that power,” they fantasized.
Again, when the votes came in this election cycle (2024), a strong majority of evangelical Christians endorsed Trump on that hope of power. The always cynical prosperity pastor Kenneth Copeland[4] in one of his pre-election weekly addresses warned his mega church "I saw this in the spirit. Literally, [It was] Judgment Day, and Jesus stood there, and he said, 'Those of you that didn't vote, I put you in that nation and you didn't vote ... or you didn't pray and vote like I told you to… I declare that anyone who didn't vote for Trump will be held accountable by Jesus with a very specific punishment.[5]
Robert Jeffers pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church, and an avid Trump supporter in an interview with NPR radio said “when I am looking for a leader, I don’t want some meek and mild leader or somebody who’s going to turn the other cheek. I want the meanest, toughest, SOB I can find to protect this nation in that role, and I think that’s where many evangelicals are.”[6]
Many have wondered how could so many evangelicals support a candidate who revels in vulgarity. “Who is the very antithesis of the savior they claimed to emulate.” Scholar Kristen Kobes Du Mez suggests, “It was the culmination of evangelicals’ embrace of militant masculinity, an ideology that enshrines patriarchal authority and condones the callous display of power…they ... traded a faith that privileges humility and elevates the “least of these” for one that derides gentleness as the province of wusses….evangelicals did not cast their vote despite their beliefs, but because of them.[7]
Tim Alberta, a staff writer for the Atlantic and a PK (Pastor’s kid), further adds, “if Trump possessed any of what Paul dubbed ‘the fruit of the spirit.’ (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), it wasn’t hanging low enough to be picked.”
The truth is, Jesus eschewed political power. At the beginning of his ministry, he was tested three times by the ‘powers’ in the wilderness. The three synoptic gospels attest to these temptations, the very lure that continues to plague Christians to this day. The presentation was varied but the temptation to superman status was the same in each temptation. Jesus was given the opportunity to be the kind of saviour the people seemingly wanted.
Turn these stones into bread…look at the opportunity to feed the hungry.[8]
Leap off tall buildings…sell people’s confidence that you are invisible.
Bow to the Satan (put on the ring) and all these lands can be yours. Think of all the good you can do. But as already noted such power invariably corrupts even in the hand of God.
Rather Jesus consistently embodied a social counter-cultural alternative.”
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5)
In 1994 church historian Marty Marty of the University of Chicago along with some of his colleagues put together a satirical fictional book in the spirit of Monty Python, entitled, The Unrelieved Paradox: Studies in the Theology of Franz Bibfeldt. What makes the book cutting is that Franz Bibfeldt is entirely fictional. A glance at the portraits of Bibfeldt contained in the book reveal the authors are having fun inventing this life. Bibfeldt describes his theology as “Reverism.” He explains, “any saying that is too hard to understand or to follow is to be understood to mean the opposite of what it literally says. My rational for this lies in the recognition that Jesus was a pragmatist.”
Reading like a Trumpian perspective for “power over” Bibfeldt’s beatitudes are flipped and read as follows
Blessed are the rich in money, for they can build bigger and better churches. Who cares about the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are those who are always happy, having everything they need, for they don’t need to be comforted.
Blessed are the ambitious, for they shall own the earth.
Blessed are those who are in charge of dispensing righteousness, for they won’t have to go to jail unless they tamper with income tax laws.
Blessed are those who show no mercy to those who owe them money, for they shall build bigger and better bank accounts.
Blessed are those whose external appearance and behavior are impeccable, for they shall look nice when they see God.(9)
Of course, this is meant as satire by the writers. In contrast when we think of a person, we most admire it is not likely going to be a disciple of Bibfeldts’ “power over” reversism.
Worldly power creates a divide where some are in and some are out. Worldly power is consumeristic. It’s privilege and entitlement destroy. Evangelical Trumpians will often retort, we don’t like his vulgarity or tactics, but we like some of his policies on abortion, guns, immigration, anti LGBTQ and other hot button issues. Issues that in my judgement are nonetheless short or wrong-sighted but with the power of the ring invariably any noble aspirations are eventually poisoned.
If Christians are still befuddled about the nature of Kingdom of God and how to proceed, the church calendar brings us immediately back to its roots with four weeks of advent. “The time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son.”
[1] Brain Zahnd, The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross (InterVarsity Press, 2024):92-103.
[2] Kristen Kobes du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White evangelicals corrupted a Faith and fractured a Nation. (Liveright Publishing, 2020):3.
[3] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-christians-they-wont-have-vote-after-this-election-2024-07-27/
[4] Kenneth Copeland’s health and prosperity message is cynical insomuch it is Santa-like in its appeal. If you are good you will prosper in wealth and health, if you are naughty, you are cursed. At a net worth of 750 million dollars Copeland is a happy, happy person.
[5] Fortunately, I am Canadian and cannot vote in a US election, so I have been spared that judgement. 😊
[6] Robert Jeffers, https://www.christiantoday.com/article/robert.jeffress.on.supporting.trump.i.dont.want.a.leader.who.will.turn.the.other.cheek/98172.htm
[7] Kristen Kobes Du Mez p.3
[8] In 1985 a supergroup USA for Africa recorded the song "We Are the World." It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.
We are the World.
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving There's a choice we're making We're saving our own livesIt's true we'll make a better day, just you and me
Well, send them your heart So they know that someone cares And their lives will be stronger and free As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
Remarkably this is precisely what Jesus refused to do but reveals the kind of Kingly power we want in Jesus.
(9) Martin Marty, Jerald Brauer eds, The Unrelieved Paradox: Studies in the Theology of Franz Bibfeldt (Eerdmans, 1994): 32,33.
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