In the rules of quantum mechanics, a particle can exist in multiple states at the same time … until it is measured. Erwin Schrödinger’s(1935) thought experiment described a cat inside an opaque box, sealed with a radioactive flask of poison and a Geiger counter. Until the box is opened and the cat is observed, the cat is both alive and dead. The act of prying open the box and peering inside marks the collapse of the superimposed state.
Similarly, U.S. political parties represent simultaneous multiple states of justice, mercy, and grace. The parties can also be represented as possessing qualities of male, female and neutral gender platforms. Like quantum computing, the U.S. political process generates “noise” — a lot of noise as political platforms are spun up and down. Like quantum computing, the solution for this political noise is an error checking process that is independent and outside of the political box itself. A survey of St. Paul’s writings demonstrates the best influence of the cat in the political box is to resist the temptation to pry open the box itself and tamper with the outcome, collapsing the quantum state into a lopsided and imbalanced state.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to describe the Republicans as the party of justice, the Democrats as mercy. Or, the Republicans represent the party of Alpha Males, the Democrats as Mother Earthers, and the Independents as neutral, wavering between the parties, like a free radical awaiting capture. For simplicity, we will use Republican and Democrat for our discussion.
A Quantum Balanced System
In quantum politics, the Republicans and Democrats remain each in a simultaneous state of balance, like male complements female. Reasonably, the Republican’s manifest more of a masculine dominance while the Democrats gravitate toward the feminine state. The combined state of the two parties together results in one noisy simultaneous equilibrium of masculine/feminine and justice/mercy/grace. An example of equilibrium- DACA recipient children of undocumented immigrants face calls for deportation by the Republicans for justice while Democrats call for mercy and path to citizenship. Equilibrium results in a “noisy” state in which DACA youth live suspended between deportation and citizenship, allowed to work and remain in the U.S.
U.S. Christians have been seduced by political candidates who overturned Roe v. Wade in exchange for their support of the Republican MAGA ticket. Branding MAGA as Christian and non-MAGA as secular blinds Christians to the inherent weakness of a politicized faith system — they have traded other key faith elements to secure one favored faith element. As Satan tempted Jesus, “All this I will give you, if you will kneel and worship me” (Matthew 4:9). The emergence of “Dominion Theology” has radicalized Christians to embrace political power and might to secure the Christian ticket in this world. The problem is that this is counter to Christ’s own teaching that if “one wants to become Great, he must be the servant of all” (Mark 10:43-45).
“I believe in the Right to Life!,” boasts the man who voted a straight “Pro-Life” ticket. “But I can’t get on board this “free childcare and healthcare for single mothers. That’s Socialism! Our Right to Life gives the mother two weeks of disposable diapers and baby food, which is the Christian thing to do. It’s not our job to find the mother housing or childcare while she works. She made her choice and has to live with it.” A quantum Right to Life ticket would be kept in equilibrium by the Right to Childhood, the Right to Housing, the Right Over My Own Body, the Right to Education, and the Right to Healthcare.
Q: “Pastor Jim, why that is silly and impossible. How could you have a system that provides all these things?”
A: “These things are impossible with us but all things are possible with God. Consider the disastrous extremes of Right to Life, with women dying slowing in hospital parking lots in an attempt to secure a medical abortion for a dead fetus. Or, the teenager trapped in perpetual cycle of poverty, with no access to contraception, healthcare, or daycare. We need the balanced interplay of the other parties to temper the extremes of our own party and its inherent prejudices.”
This waxing and waining process of harmonization is captured in the Chinese philosophy of Yinyang — “Yin in its highest form is freezing while yang in its highest form is boiling.“ Yinyang represents “the dynamic balance of all things.”
The United States became great not because of Christian involvement with politics, rather Christians influencing culture apart from politics. Religious tampering destabilizes the quantum yinyang suspended state and results in a lopsided manifestation of masculine combativeness at the expense of the feminine state of nurture. As the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), the function of Christians in culture is to prevent decay by truth-affirming and error checking without prying open Schrödinger’s box and corrupting the outcome. Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured the quantum nature of the church in his quote borrowed below:
The limiting nature of power and money in political systems forces a political party’s member to adhere to a limited agenda of that party’s platform, at the expense of the valid items slated on the other party’s platform. Christians are tempted to go “all in” on what they perceive as a lesser of two evils and declare one political party as inherently Christian while damning the other party. In contrast, the Apostle Paul reminds us that a Christian’s exclusive allegiance to a party has been preempted by “one body, one faith, and one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).
The sister system to quantum politics is Adam Smith’s invisible hand in ”quantum economics.” By respecting the balances of a stable economic system, the system will find its own equilibrium. The U.S. stock market, for example, is suspended in the balanced quantum state of both gain and loss. However, by tampering with the “invisible hand” by tax or by tariff, the invisible hand is forced to write a manuscript it did not author, resulting in short sighted gains at the expense of long -term progress.
Like a three legged stool, the biblical system of love, justice and mercy forms the Christian basis of U.S. society. Like a tariff’s “pay to play” model, Christians who “pay to play” to prop up their chosen “Christian Party” will find they have sacrificed one or more legs of the stool for a political platform. The result is justice without mercy or mercy without justice.
St. Paul in I Corinthians 13 said, “When one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere human beings? … So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”
The “Quantum Cardinal” Kurt Koch
Catholic Cardinal Kurt Koch rejected the extreme position of both the traditionalists and the progressives in favor the the tension of the balanced. See this press release:
Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Dicastery Promoting Christian Unity.
I asked Gemini AI to create a quantum image for the two sayings of Jesus, “You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and “My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36)-
The Superposition of Faith and Works, Of Progressive and Traditional
The image captures that believers are both in the world but not of it, in divine tension. The AI’s own misses reflect the noisy process as our work continues, misses the ideal, and starts again. The Christian is both “salt of the earth” and “not of this world,” at the same time, held in balance by God’s quantum grace.
The Political Path Forward
The Schrödinger temptation is to pry open the box in an attempt to save the cat. Jesus did not call his church to pry open and destabilize government by christening a political party as Christian at the expense of labeling the other party as unChristian. The truth affirming, error checking role of believers as salt and light in the community provides stabilization that prevents a political party from moving from imbalance to fanaticism. Dr. Guy Greenfield, former Professor of Ethics at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, described this process as “the heresy of the extremes and the orthodoxy of the balanced.”
The temptation of Christ was for him to “do something right now”! Throw yourself off the Temple and show everyone that you are a real man … the guy in charge! Throw the Romans out of Jerusalem and become the Alpha Messiah! Instead, Jesus wept and prayed over Jerusalem in Matthew 23, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
– Pastor Jim
As in quantum economics, one can participate in insider trading and order Government to improve conditions that guarantee profit; however, the outcomes deteriorate in correlation with the tampering. So it is with Christians who try to force the manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth.
Q: “Jim, are you asking us to do nothing and sit back as Satan’s dark forces capture the US?”
A: St. Paul reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). As we said, worldly political parties are limited by money and power regarding what policies they can support on their platform. In order to keep that party from moving into imbalance and even fanaticism, it takes the other parties to harmonize balance.
Q: “So, are you saying no Christian should commit to a political party?”
A: A declaration of party affiliation should be safeguarded with an allegiance only to Jesus Christ and a humility that we need the other parties to bring the noisy harmony needed for a balanced path forward.
Salt: Truth Affirming Error Checking
As the particle spin of quantum computing creates nothing short of an AI hallucination, so does an imbalanced political party create its own climate of disinformation and distrust. The church’s response as salt and light is to form a balanced dialogue with the prevailing political parties. This week I watched a national politician’s show on a Christian television network. The presumption was that this politician and his party were the “Christian party” and that the other parties were of the devil. He hosted a fellow national politician as they castigated a politician and his family, members of the opposing party.
While the politician generates appearance that he is “doing something for God and fighting the devil,” in truth he is destabilizing his own political process down a path of self-deception fueled by money and power rather than the presence of the Holy Spirit.
God needeth not the help of a material sword of steel to assist the sword of the Spirit in the affairs of conscience.-Roger Williams
The Paradox Ring of Power
Imagine two politicians walking opposite directions, each on a far side of the planet. Both walk faster than the speed of light on a sidewalk suspended like Saturn’s ring. Around and around the politicians whirl, each blaming and accusing the of walking and leading the other the wrong direction. Some proposed offering a reward if the “wrong-way” politician was captured. Each used telephoto X-ray cameras to capture proof that the other was wrong and should be shunned at all costs. One day a child pointed out that, “You blamed the other for moving the wrong direction, but you are walking on the same path and direction, but on opposite sides. Without that direction you couldn’t go your direction.” Without the perspective of the other, the circle would never be completed. Traveling faster than light, both politicians would be perceived in a state of occupying the same space at the same time. So it is with quantum politics; we have met the extremists and the extremists is us. The opposing party is with us on the same path of humanity and a future U.S.
The Path Forward: More Variety, Less Variation
W. Edwards Deming, the man who taught the Japanese about quality improvement, warned about variation while encouraging variety as the path to improvement. ( See https://demingalliance.org/resources/articles/understanding-variation-the-springboard-for-process-improvement). Variation are those forces that destabilize a business or a nation so you don’t know what will happen if you show up at work, if you have a job. Fear and chaos waft through the air at a system of variation like the odors of an outhouse. In contrast, variety is the “spice of life,” meaning something new and wonderful is brewing in the kitchen. An enlightened “Republicrat,” who sees the value of variety between different parties and the danger of extreme variation may blaze the path forward for the political system of the U.S.
Today I spent $27.50 for a local haircut, after tip and tax (post cut pic below). This week a small cup of plain coffee at a national chain … $5.00. I’m channeling my inner childhood memories of a haircuts on the front porch using a kitchen chair and table cloth for a drape. The US needs fewer billionaires created by cash demanded for the next “necessary” gadget and more old kitchen chairs, where we can rediscover that which money cannot buy.
Fascism rises on the wind of popular vote, lifted by the wings of fear and hate.
“Bella ciao” (Traditional Italian Partisan Song): This is a very famous Italian folk song that originated among the mondine (rice paddy workers) in the late 19th century. During the Italian resistance against fascism in World War II, it was adopted as an anthem by the anti-fascist partisans. It speaks of resistance against the oppressor and the desire for freedom.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. – John 15
If you’re like me, you may not naturally make friends but have to work on it. Good news! Today we are talking about how to make friends at church. We will address the friendship crisis in church. This will provide a foundation to make new friends in church and for life.
Jesus on the eve of the crucifixion, the night of the Last Supper and the institution of the Lord’s Supper, told his disciples, ” 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” The Lord gave them and us the gift if friendship with God and one another. It is a gift you can receive today.
The Friendship Handicap : “Solo Party of one; Table for One”
Notice how easy it was to make friends as a child. Messy friendships … you threw up in your home-room class. You all endured dread teacher, “Ms. Meany,” who turned out to be quite nice in spite of her name. A food fight in the cafeteria bonded you with another student as you hid under your new friend’s food tray.
Why is it so difficult today to make and keep friends as an adult?
The Survey Center on American Life shows how we have become more friendless over the years. Between 1990 and 2021 those with two or fewer close friends had increased from 16% in 1990 to 32% in 2021.
Find Stillness and Begin True Friendship
True friendship and connection with God and others begin in stillness. In the Quaker church,akaSociety of Friends. The meeting begins as you come in and someone shakes your hand. Then you “Listen from the stillness.” This is a sense of connection with God, yourself, and those around you. You can’t be friend with others if you are not at stillness and peace within yourself. If you are running around looking for someone to shake your hand and be an instant friend, you will be disappointed.
Quaker meetings are simple gatherings that usually last around an hour and are based on silence. There are no ministers, creeds, or set hymns, prayers, or sermons. Instead, Quakers gather in silence to quiet their minds, open their hearts, and listen to new insights and guidance.
During the meeting, people may share what they discover with those present, which is called “ministry.” Anyone can give ministry, including visitors. For example, you might be invited to talk about what brought you to the meeting, and your experience.
Ministry is what is on one’s soul, and it can be in direct contradiction to what is on one’s mind. It’s what the Inner Light gently pushes you toward or suddenly dumps in your lap. It is rooted in the eternity, divinity, and selflessness of the Inner Light; not in the worldly, egoistic functions of the conscious mind. – Marrianne McMullen, 1987, Quaker faith & practice 2.66
From the stillness of worship, people sometimes feel moved by the spirit to stand and speak, or sometimes sing. Quakers refer to this as vocal ministry, and its hallmark is that it comes from deep within, or from God. Stillness gives us understanding.
Friendship Takes Time
How many times have we heard, “I tried that church, but they weren’t friendly to me. Nobody said ‘Hello,’ not even the pastor.” “They don’t like me because I am not this at not that.” It’s like you arrived with stiff new jeans while everyone else enjoys the broken in jeans of longtime friendship.
I read of a Mystery Worshipper for Ship of Fools church review website who visited a church where I previously served as Executive Pastor.
Did anyone welcome you personally?One of the associate pastors, wearing a black Geneva gown and green stole, was standing at the door. She shook my hand and said, ‘Good morning. Good to have you here.’ Inside, everyone was too busy visiting with friends to take note of a stranger.
The above Mystery Worshipper did not understand that making friends takes time.
Persevere to Make a Friend
A man turned to his wife while leaving church one Sunday in a huff. The man told his wife in the parking lot, “Honey, we are never coming back to this church. The people don’t like me. They didn’t like what I wore. Nobody was friendly. Why I even tried to shake hands with a deacon, who turned on his heels and walked the other way.” His wife smiled and said, “I’ll give you three reasons why we are coming back – 1. Jesus said, ‘Love your neighbor,’ 2. That deacon is a neighbor, and 3. You’ve got to come back; … you’re the pastor!”
Tom Whittaker’s right foot needed to be amputated following a car accident in 1979. He thought this derailed his future as a young athlete. Yet following this serious accident, he regained his strength and continued mountain climbing. His first attempt on Everest was in 1995. On May 27, 1998, on his third attempt, Whittaker reached the summit of Mt. Everest, a lifelong dream, making him the first person with a disability to accomplish this feat. Tom Whitaker of Arizona was the first disabled person to climb Mt. Everest.
My young sons and I heard him speak about what he learned on his journey to conquer Everest, where he said, “Don’t let the averted gaze of others deter you from your appointed destination.”
In my third pastorate of a United Methodist church, I tried a lunch meeting with a group of fellow pastors … two Methodists, a Presbyterian, and an Episcopalian. I showed up with my new jeans as a former Southern Baptist … and felt not as high church, sophisticated as the others. The conversations seemed to walk around me and felt at times as the invisible man. But I determined not to let the averted eyes deter me, kept showing up, and discovered my new jeans broke in and was accepted by the group. I learned as a pastor not to let disappointed looks and averted eyes deter me from building friendships.
One of my best friends in my first church, Deacon Ralph Spotts, initially voted against me coming as new pastor because I was too young. The church voted me in as pastor, and Deacon Ralph volunteered anyway to show me around the community. He introduced me to the Lion’s Club. Every Sunday in the Sanctuary, his senior Berean Bible class doors opened and I would see him seated as teacher at the table. Eventually, I buried his beloved wife who died of cancer. Sometime later he called me one morning at the church to come help him. I barely understood him as he had suffered a devastating stroke and lay slumped over the kitchen counter. Time passed and he was the only person I knew who left a skilled nursing home to return home and marry a widow in the church. I presided over the wedding standing with his grown children. Had I been deterred by his averted eyes on that first “Nay” vote, our friendship would have never occurred.
Tom Whittaker explained further what mountaineers do when they get into trouble: “When mountaineers get into trouble, they look for the next handhold. Then the next handhold.”
“When mountaineers get into trouble, they take it one handhold at a time. Then the next handhold.” – Tom Whittaker
Determine that you will climb that friendship mountain and make a friend at church. This next Sunday look for your the next friendship handhold.
Handholds to Friendships at Church
Study the weekly worship bulletin and look for meetings where food is served or where you will served together as a group. The bulletin as the website may not be updated:
Examples –
Pancake Breakfast
Dinner for Eight
Men’s Breakfast
Camp cookout
Be “new” with others. Join a newly formed group.
Arthur Flake the Southern Baptist genius and father of modern Sunday School taught that new groups grow faster than existing groups. If they could find 8 – 10 new people, the Southern Baptists would form another Sunday School class … because it provided a way to make new friends around studying the Bible. The genius he discovered – “New groups grow faster than old groups.” Southern Baptists grew to this day to be the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
Arthur Flake – Father of the Modern Sunday School
For pastors and church leaders – what new groups have you formed? If you have a long-standing existing class, consider short term study seminars open to all.
Ekron Baptist Church Sunday School
The above Sunday School group at Ekron Baptist shows a typical Sunday Bible study. If we can take some liberty and peel back layers to show hypothetically why it is so difficult for a visitor to make friends in any longstanding Sunday School group.
The three ladies in the front have attended the same closed bridge circle for the last five years. The men seated at the back went to high school together and serve in the same Lion’s Club for over 10 years. The younger adults are children of the Lion’s Club members who plan on attending a Lion’s Club BBQ with their parents after church. Each of these groups in a group are siloed off in their existing circle of interest and apart from new people. This is not wrong; it simply is.
You as a visitor arrive. The people smile and greet you, but you don’t understand why you feel like an outsider. You feel like new stiff blue jeans in a group of broken-in jeans.
Existing Groups Revolve around Prior Formed Backchannels of Communication
If you attend an established group, give yourself permission to feel like an outsider for a year. Arrive early and stay late. Make your own name tag.
As a long-term stakeholder in the group, go out of your way to include the newcomers as lines of communication often proceed along lines of relationship rather than official group communications. There’s no need for a newsletter or an accurate website because word-of-mouth spreads naturally among friends, unless you are new. Though the church’s website contains a calendar six months out-of-date, those part of the in-network get all the information they need. The newcomers remain outside the homegrown chain of communication.
New Groups Create Direct Lines of Communication with Others
Your Friendship Exercises This Week
“When mountaineers get into trouble, they look for the next handhold … Then the next handhold.”
Wear a name tag with your first name. You can print out the one below.
Review the weekly worship bulletin for opportunities to eat or serve together.
Learn the names of three people.
Arrive early and stay late.
Click on this link to download your copy of the Friendship Guide.
The above example shows a Men’s Pancake Breakfast and special new services for Holy Week.
Power Tip for Pastors and Teachers
If you want to become a master of learning names and staying in touch with people. At the beginning and end of the service, turn on a voice activated recorder in your pocket. You can transcribe later the names, needs and milestones of those in your care, as well as reminders for follow-up. People will think you had a photographic memory, while you had a little help from St. Sony.
Sony Digital Voice Editor
Jesus gave us the example of how to be a friend of God and others. Remember, friendship with God begins with willingness to trust, obey, and desire to know God intimately. May the above start you on a friendship journey with God and others that will last this life and into the next.
Your Friend,
Pastor Jim
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John Huddleston was known by his Arkansas neighbors as a “son of a sharecropper” and a “dreamy backwoodsman.” John and Sarah purchased their 49 acre home farm in 1889 for $100, later expanded to 243 acres. One day while walking a road through his property he found two crystals which were shortly identified as “diamonds.” Today the property is owned by State of Arkansas as the only place in the world the public can search for real diamonds at “Crater of Diamonds State Park.”
More than 35,000 diamonds have been found by park visitors since the Crater of Diamonds became an Arkansas state park in 1972. Notable diamonds found at the Crater include the 40.23-carat Uncle Sam, the largest diamond ever unearthed in the U.S. Five hours from our house in MO, my wife Carol and her friend, Chris, spent hours digging for diamonds with no luck. Perhaps on our next trip!
The park’s one rule for diamonds – “Finders, Keepers!”
And so it is with public reading of Scripture at church.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
Matthew 13:44-46
Matthew 13:44-46 New International Version (NIV)“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.”
The most understated and neglected part of Sunday worship is public reading of Scripture. Pianists practice and prepare for the offertory music. Pastors slave hours to prepare and deliver a vibrant sermon. Yet, the Scripture reading is approached like reading the menu at a burger drive-thru –hurried, with someplace else to go.
The most understated and neglected part of Sunday worship is public reading of Scripture. Pianists practice and prepare for the offertory music. Pastors slave hours to prepare and deliver a moving sermon. Yet, the Scripture reading is approached like reading the menu at a burger drive-thru. Hurried, with someplace else to go.
Pastor Jim
The Apostle Paul wrote Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching (1 Timothy 4:13).
So, you receive a call from the church office asking you to read Scripture next Sunday, a passage on the descendants of Noah. You think no problem. You’ve heard the Noah story many times … two-by-two into the ark. You’ve even seen the movie!
So you go about your week, grandchildren’s soccer games, golf, shopping … Sunday arrives and you open the bulletin to review the passage a few minutes before you stand up to read
26 Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
…These names appear before you … unrecognizable names … never heard before in Sunday School. What in the name of Klingon archeology are these names? Your throat tightens as you don’t have time to Google how to pronounce these names. Now you know why public speaking is #1 on the list of social fears as your knees shake walking to the lectern.
What you can’t pronounce you mumble and smudge over to go undetected and escape the lectern as quickly as possible.
There is a better way …
Today I will share with you a few tips to improve your public reading of Scripture. I learned these while serving as Executive Pastor in my last position and reading the Scripture on many Sundays. I realized that Scripture reading was the diamond field of Sunday worship. The diamonds are held in the fabric and contents of the Bible itself.
Step 1. Navigate to biblegateway.com and type in the passage you will read – chapter and verse
Step 2. Copy the passage into a word processor and save 16 point font in two columns
Play the audible passage reading as you mark up your reading sheet – / short pause // long pause line up, line down pitch, and pronunciation helps
Practice reading your passage 3 times. If possible, say “mic check” into the lectern microphone to check the volume before the service, speaking no more than 12 inches from the microphone.
Glance at the passage and look at the people while you read.
End your reading with something like, “The word of God … for the people of God!”
Try these tips the next time you read in church. You will find with your church some diamonds in your field.
As Karl Barth wrote, “ I have read many books, … but the Bible reads me!”
Evangelical Christians, in believing about a coming Armageddon, must take care lest they actually cause an Armageddon as self-fulfilling prophecy. #separatechurchandhate
If I did a second doctorate, my thesis would be the role of well-intended souls who thought they did God’s will in forcing God’s hand to usher in the Kingdom. This was the devil’s temptation to Jesus. This was replayed in Judas’s betrayal to force Jesus’s hand. The Spanish and French Inquisitions, The Crusades, the Canadian Indian Residential Schools, and Conversion Therapy groups sought to enforce their brand of “pure religion.”
In contrast, Jesus taught – Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world” John 18:36.
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
John 18:36
The Third Reich sought its pure Millennial Reign. False zealot messiahs have historically proclaimed a salvation by brute force over grace. Give me the lowly, the despised and rejected, for of such is the Kingdom of God.
Jesus revealed his political party by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Well-intentioned zealots have historically promoted forcing Jesus’s hand as the Messiah, including Judas Iscariot on the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. In a world of hate for those of a different political bent, different ethnicity, or orientation, consider how you can enlarge your border and replace resentment and hate with grace. Consider also Jesus’s choice of disciples. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were fisherman and involved in the fishing business. Matthew was a hated tax collector, whose money was considered unclean. Judas Iscariot likely worked in bookkeeping. Simon the Canaanite was a stubborn zealot who wished for an insurrection over the Romans. Some of the disciples we don’t know what they did. Later Paul was a Pharisee and persecutor of the church.
Begin this week following Jesus’s example by making space in your life for those different from you. Remember, “Resentment and hatred have imprisoned more people than all the jails in the world combined.”
