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Writer's pictureFr. Benjamin Gildas

Jesus vs. Caesar: The Radical Message of the Gospel You’ve Missed



The Gospel tells a story.


The Gospel tells the story of the human race, from four distinct vantage points. They tell the tragic story of an innocent man killed at the hands of the state, an innocent man put to death so that others would not need to die. But not in the way you may have heard or might think.


The Gospels tell of an innocent man killed by Pontius Pilate for practical reasons, the ends justifying the means, kill one man and keep the pax romana, the Peace of Rome, the illusion of security and safety that comes merely at the cost of obedience and worship. Kill one man and prevent unrest, unease. Kill one man and appease the Jewish leaders.


The Gospels tell of an innocent man led to death by his colleagues, his Jewish brothers, his leaders, the religious authorities of Judaism, the High Priest himself, the ones whose job was stand between wrath and the people, to stand for their people to God as advocates.


These were actions they chose for political power and influence, for their own safety and security. They were willing to break the most important truth of all: that they are to have no King but God, and God’s Messiah.


The Gospels are a story about an innocent man, a teacher, a preacher, a story-teller. In the words of singer Rich Mullins


“[Jesus] gave love a face, and he gave love a name, and he gave love away like the sky gave rain and sun. While we were looking for heroes, he was looking for the lost. We were searching for glory and he showed us a cross. And now we know what love is because he loved us.”

By his refusal to acquiesce to the systems of power and violence, by his refusal to use the tools of coercion, and bloodshed, by his refusal to accept political power on Earth, claiming a kingship not of this world, by his absolute obedience to the Father even to death, to God’s will not his own will, by putting himself last so that all others may be first, he revealed the weakness, and the emptiness, and the powerlessness of the principalities and the powers of the world, and showed them for the sham and the lie that they in fact are.


He became the high priest and the king that Caiphus and Caesar could never be.


Jesus was king, so Caesar could not be.


Jesus was the Great High Priest, so we no longer have a need for the sacrifices of priests any longer.


But long before his arrest, he first was a prophet and a teacher, and in his teachings he taught his disciples how to follow his way. He called out the principalities and powers and rulers in high places.


In the book Christ on Trial, Rowan Williams explains that in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus instructs people to stay silent about his works because their language, one of worldly power and violence, cannot express God’s radically different power. When Jesus breaks this silence—identifying himself to the high priest with God’s own words, “I am”—Mark shows us where God is: standing with the victim, refusing to justify himself by the world’s standards of success.


Jesus tries to show his disciples the lie that is the world’s language of power and violence. Look at last Sunday's Gospel lesson from Mark 13:


The disciples and Jesus are walking around the Temple grounds in Jerusalem. And his disciples, men from a poor Galilean town in the country, are amazed. They say to Jesus, look at these amazing buildings, they’re huge, and the amazing architecture. They’re in awe. 


And Jesus says, what, these buildings? They are nothing. Every single one of these stones will be brought down.


And he goes on to tell them that many people would come, and they would claim to come in his name. That they would say “I am he! Me! I’m the one.” That many, many would come claiming to be the one.


They'd come claiming to be your savior, the one, claiming to be God’s retribution, God’s anointed.


That’s how you know they do not come in his name. Because Jesus has already told his disciples, that the ones who follow Jesus’ way, they are not "the one". 


That ones who come in Jesus’ name are the last and the least. They do not point to themselves. They point only to God the Father.


They do not come in glory, or seek out glory. They take up their cross.


Anyone who points to themselves, aggrandizes themselves, claims to be "the one" or "the only one", is an anti-Christ, literally. The word Christ is the same word as Messiah, which means consecrated one, a consecration by anointing, the way you make someone a king, lord, ruler, or emperor. Jesus taught his followers that they’d have to endure these anti-Christs, and wars, and earthquakes, and that these were only the beginning of what was to come.


The first Christians knew this. The Christians of the New Testament and the first several centuries of Christianity knew that their most important truth is that Jesus is King so Caesar is not. 


Jesus is King, so Caesar is not.


They refused to acquiesce or accept the authority of the Empire.


They died because they believed that Jesus is King so Caesar is not. They were willing to give their life for it.


During those first few centuries of Christianity, not only would Christians do no violence at all, they would not own weapons of violence, or even touch them. They could not even hold public office because that meant wielding the power of the sword through others. They believed all violence went against the one whose kingdom was on a cross, the Prince of Peace.


Eventually, Christians made the deal with the devil. They accepted power in exchange for fealty. Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and put the cross, the symbol of anti-Empire, on the shields of his soldiers in battle, literally carrying a cross lifted up into battle.


Christians honored Caesar as king, Caesar, as God’s chosen, God’s consecrated, God’s Christ. They gave up their belief on violence, St. Augustine of Hippo created the just war theory. And Christianity became the religion of the powerful and the wealthy, instead of the poor and the lowly, the last and the least.


Our own Anglican Communion that we are a part of was born when the Archbishop of Canterbury named the King of England the head of the church on Earth: not Jesus, but the King of England.


However, our own Episcopal Church, our denomination here in the US, was born when we declared independence from claims that anyone is consecrated or anointed by God on Earth as king or as head of the Church. Only Jesus is King. Only Jesus is the Head of the Church. In Philadelphia, some of our founders, William White and the Vestry of Christ Church, removed fealty to the King and Queen from the Book of Common Prayer. These were beliefs that this country, the United States of America, was founded on, woven into the fabric of our identity.


Two weeks ago, that country, the United States of America, elected a new President, a former President, Donald J. Trump.


Just a few days ago, on a radio station in Florida, I heard conservative Christian talk show hosts say, and this is a quote speaking about President elect Donald Trump that “God made him, consecrated him, designated him for this moment in history.” 


President Donald Trump, consecrated by God, anointed by God for this moment, literally Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek.


Philadelphia author Shane Claiborn wrote a book years ago called Jesus for President, in which he argues that Christians must refuse to look to the politics and the powers of this world for hope, for trust, that we can’t put our faith in Presidents, Christians only put their faith in Jesus.


Jesus is President. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King.


Christians need to repent and turn to the Lord for acquiescing to the principalities and powers of the world that Jesus rejected, by putting our hope and our trust in parties and politicians, for making huge buildings made of stone to worship our power and wealth, for giving our allegiance to flags in return for that same illusion of safety and security that was the downfall of the temple priests and the pharisees. 


We need to repent of using the tools and language of the world, language of power and violence in the name of God.


We need to call out heresy, blasphemy, and idolatry when it happens. We need to convict our fellow Christians as well. Calling anyone our savior, our hope, our deliverer, our retribution besides Jesus is blasphemy. Calling anyone else God's anointed besides God's Christ is heresy. Abandoning the teachings of Jesus and principals of the Gospel for safety and power is idolatry.


This is not really about Donald Trump. This is about the Gospel. And the Gospel tells the story of the human race. 


And the devil that tempted us in the Garden with knowledge and power and equality with God. 


But the true Gospel is not about the devil or even the sin, but about a young, lowly girl, whose "yes" to God crushed the serpent in the garden, crushed its head. The Gospel tells of a young girl whose willingness to take up her cross and follow allowed God’s only anointed, only consecrated king to come into the world on that first Christmas morning.


He was born not rich and powerful, but poor and lowly with the animals. He was born in order to bring the lofty from their thrones and lift up the lowly. He was born to be with us, born to to defeat sin, death, and the devil once and for all and all the principalities and powers of the world, and the world's language of violence and power.


By his humility to the point of death, he defeated all of it, and by his resurrection he made a new world that we are all called to join in.


The Good News is that because Jesus is King, Caesar is not. Caesar is weak. Caesar is powerless. Caesar is meaningless. Every one of these stones will be thrown down.


The true stones that Jesus came to throw down were the ones we build, the walls we make that divide us from one another, that make human beings enemies of one another, stones of hate, and division, and oppression, and injustice, and lies.


He came to throw down the walls we build in our hearts, the fear of those different from us, the willingness to use that fear to gain power over others in exchange for the illusion of safety and security.


We are called to God’s mission in the world to reconcile all things by his Messiah, his Christ by the "weakness" of the cross, weakness only to the world, but power to us who follow. We follow this Way by being last not first, by laying down our lives, not holding onto them, by giving away our wealth and power, not holding onto them.


Obviously not everyone reading this feels the same way about the results of this past election. But we must all agree about our devotion to Jesus our Lord, our obedience to his teachings, and our worship of him alone.


We must all agree on the Baptismal Covenant we renewed just a few weeks ago on All Saints Day, our promise to strive for justice and peace and to respect the dignity of every human being. Our solemn vow to love our neighbors as ourselves.


The Episcopal Church and our diocese and our bishop are committed to our Gospel principles, our inclusion of people no matter their ethnicity, or race, or gender identity, or sexuality, our love and inclusion of transgender and non-binary people, our commitment to the work of resettling refugees, and our advocacy for immigrants and asylum seekers. We will continue our advocacy for prison reform and justice system reform. We will continue our anti-gun violence and anti-war advocacy.


This parish, Incarnation Holy Sacrament in Drexel Hill will continue to be a welcoming and inclusive family of faith, where God’s love is for all, no exceptions. We will continue to be a community that works to become more diverse, more accessible, where all belong. We will continue to be a safe space for you, no matter your identity, race, sexuality, family makeup, or immigration status. We will not back down from the principals of the Gospel and we will name heresy and blasphemy and proclaim truth in love.


I want to close with words from our Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Daniel Gutierrez that he wrote in a letter to our diocese. Our bishop writes:


"We have the opportunity to inspire belief and restore trust. We cannot lose hope in the goodness of humanity. If we cannot see or find it, we must become it. If anyone draws lines of division, we create ever-expanding circles of belonging. When one is in danger or cast aside, we gather God's beloved, without exception, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Let’s build communities of safety and self-sacrifice that nurture, protect, and comfort. Be fearless when someone is being attacked, denigrated, or dehumanized and hold ourselves accountable to God, ourselves, and one another.


Let us set our eyes on Christ and greet the day with faith so we can continue to pray. Let us ask the Holy One for the perseverance to build communities of the poor, compassionate, merciful, and loving. The tenacity to live Matthew 25 and the Sermon on the Mount. The fortitude to engage in the democratic process with goodness and truth and respect the dignity of every human being. The willingness to find our common unity instead of our differences. The resolve to be peacemakers, beacons of light, and vessels of hope. The courage to take up the crosses with our names and the names of our neighbors on them.


This is a difficult ministry, but we must go forward believing that our identity is not party, label, or ideology; our identity is Christ. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." (Colossians 3:12)


Let us now engage in the ministry of restoration for all humanity and the world's nations. Earthly kingdoms will come and go; elections will be won and lost, and politicians and leaders will fade away. For there is only one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. There is only one Savior. The One who endures and will always reign: Jesus Christ. This truth assures us of God's peace, which passes all understanding." - The Rt. Rev. Daniel Gutierrez



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