I’ve been reading Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne
and Chris Haw and it is an amazing book, I want to lend it to everyone I know. The part I’m reading is about the early church during the
centuries after Jesus left earth, and the struggles they faced living in the
Roman Empire.
I didn’t realise that during that time Caesar and God
were often interchangeable in Roman citizens’ minds. And not bowing down to
Caesar meant persecution and even death. The Empire was built on plenty of
dodgy stuff: slavery, exploitation of the poor, greed, unsustainable growth,
environmental destruction etc (sound familiar?), and the Church was having a
hard time getting by without bowing down to it or falling in love with
its spoils.
God is not big on empires. Remember how reluctant he was
to give Israel a king? They wanted to be like the other nations with a big
strong human ruler, but really the only person who can handle that sort of
power is God himself. Their desire for a king broke Gods heart because they were
effectively rejecting him as their ruler and father.
On the other hand the early church was closer to Gods idea of
how human society should function: they shared everything they had, gave to the poor, forgave debts, redistributed land, welcomed
immigrants. They also attempted to separate themselves
from the Roman market place (the agora),
because to buy and sell there you had to pledge allegiance to Caesar – which was
obviously problematic – and because it represented the dominance of the empire
over people’s lives.
The church today ultimately faces the same challenges and
difficulties as it did then, although admittedly they’ve changed their masks over the centuries. The question that is at the forefront of my mind is: how can we exist in this world without condoning the things that go against God's beautiful plan?
We are part of the nation we live in: we should be an example to it
and love its people. But at the same time we are not part of this nation: we
are the Nation of God, one which transcends race, culture, class and religion,
that is beyond the economies, armies and empires of this world.
Our problem is that we don’t question the paths that
bring clothes to our wardrobes, food to our tables, money to our pockets. We don’t
question how it can possibly be sustainable to consume so much energy, space
and stuff (I’ll give you a clue, every action has an equal and opposite
reaction). Claiborne and Haw ask “Is it possible we can’t see the
destructiveness of our economy not because we don’t know it’s terrible but
because deep down we feel that it’s necessary and therefore hopeless to criticise
it?”
Last year I gave up supermarkets for lent. Now I feel
like God is asking even more of me: to separate myself from the empire wherever
I can, to know that what I buy comes from a source acceptable to God, to
consume only what I need and no more, and to trust that he will provide for me.
It could tail off, like my supermarket experiment, or it
could crash and burn. And I will probably slip up and fail over and over. But
it feels right, which is why I intend to begin as I mean to go on: I’m going to
Whiteladies Road Market on Saturday for my weekly shop. So give me a buzz if
you want me to pick you something up.
All the believers were together and shared everything. They would sell their land and the things they owned and then divide the money and give it to anyone who needed it... [The believers] ate together in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. They praised God and were liked by all the people. Acts 2:44-47
This post was heavily inspired by Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. So if you wanna find out more read the book, or borrow mine when I'm done :)
Comments/thoughts/criticism/questions are very welcome as always.
