Earthly Empires vs the Nation of God

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.