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On Political Power and the Kingdom of God by Presbyter PHILLIP LEMASTERS
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hat is the border between Christ’s Kingdom and the kingdoms of the world? The Savior said clearly that His Kingdom “is not of this world,” but the world is where we have to live out our lives as His followers. Throughout the Divine Liturgy, we pray for the salvation of all, peace for the world, and the wellbeing of our civil authorities and armed forces. To do this with integrity, we must discern how to deal with political and social matters in ways that not only convey the transcendence of the Kingdom, but also show how God’s will can be done, albeit imperfectly and partially, here on earth. The border between these realms is real, but not impermeable. The tension between the heavenly reign and earthly politics strikes at the heart of the Christian faith. The gospels show that Jesus Christ rejected the temptation to acquire conventional political power throughout His ministry. Despite the expectations of His own disciples and the cheers of the crowd on Palm Sunday, the Lord steadfastly refused to take up arms or lead an insurrection as an earthly king. The Roman Empire crucified Him at the instigation of corrupt religious leaders who saw Him as a threat to their power, which was based on distorting the faith of Israel in order to gain prestige, wealth, and influence for themselves. Those who riled up the crowds against jacob's well
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Him said to Pilate, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar… We have no king but Caesar!” ( Jn. 19: 12, 15). In reality, they served no one but themselves and plotted against Christ when it became clear that He was a threat to their interests (the post-truth political world is nothing new). Though Pilate was not eager to crucify the Savior, under his leadership, a placard was put on the Cross, calling Christ the king of the Jews, as a warning of what the Romans would do to anyone who dared challenge their authority. There could not be a more vivid manifestation of how Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world than the profound contrast between how He ascended the Cross and how His enemies put Him on it. This realization challenges the delusions of those who distort Christianity into a way of making the interests of nations and ethnic groups their false gods. Only His Body, the Church, is “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people…” (1 Pet. 2:9). The merely human distinctions of this world underlie the political and social divisions that happen to exist in our collective life outside of Paradise. They lack the power to raise anyone from the dead or usher in eschatological perfection. The fullness of God’s salvation does not come through any particular arrangement of the powers that be in the collective life of humanity. In
