Yesterday We Gave to Caesar…the Future We Give to God

Our current context does not change our ethical vision.

The election is gone, but the unstoppable Kingdom is coming.

We all woke up this morning in a specific political context. No matter who won the Presidency or the majority of Congress, half of America would have been worried about our future, scared of worst-case scenarios that we replay in our imagination. Is there a way for the kingdom to come in America in the aftermath of the loss and grief that half the Church feels—while the other half celebrates?

Yes.

And we are not accidental or incidental to this kingdom-coming moment. We were chosen by God to be alive in these days. God knows and is present to your thoughts and feelings today—of whatever kind. You count—and you were created to count for good.

Kara Gebhardt

This is our moment to follow Jesus for the sake of others. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). Our treasure and our heart are not with political parties, but with the kingdom of God. Our treasure is wrapped up in being an ambassador of that kingdom, an agent of healing and repair.

God’s kingdom is in this world, but not of it. This means that God’s kingdom, while always present to this world, is not derived from it—and it is certainly not the result of the vagaries of election cycles. The kingdom is of God, and it does its work of restoration in any political context.

Jesus’ comments about Caesar arose precisely within a political context. Religious leaders were trying to trap him, to get him to say something that would get him in trouble at the intersection of religion and politics. Jesus, full of wisdom and grace, said: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s [taxes, votes, etc.], and to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21).

“What is God’s” is our heart and our calling to be ambassadors of his kingdom. In all social things, we are resident and present, but alien. Our true and lasting home is somewhere else. And our true Leader is someone else. The stability of that home and our Father allows us to be unwavering agents of the kingdom in unstable times.

The centrality of our heart in any context reminds me of Proverbs 4:23 (paraphrased):

Put everything you have into the care of your heart—the hidden, causative, motivational you—for everything you do flows from it. It is the real source of your outward life. It determines what your life amounts to.

Put differently, to ground ourselves in what is most real, we want to see what God is showing us:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Context does not shape the ethical vision of the passage above. Rather, Micah’s moral revelation fits any context. Christian influence on given societies comes and goes and is always imperfect. But the steady growth of the kingdom of God happens anywhere and everywhere. 

Thus, the key spectrum in life is not left-right, liberal-conservative, red-blue. The crucial divide is faithfulness or not; a life of sin or a life seeking holiness from which we love and serve others. Who is in the White House or Congress does not limit our choice to center Jesus in our hearts and actions.

Jesus had no political standing or power whatsoever—and he changed and is changing the whole world.

It took me five minutes to vote, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to love and serve 100% of my neighbors in America.

I will get up tomorrow not in the midst of winners and losers, but in the midst of human beings created in the image of God, people I am called to love regardless of any kind of differences or diversity. I want to be like Jesus, to have meals with all manner of people, and as need requires, serve them in Jesus’ name. 

I want to embody, announce and demonstrate the kingdom of God–and let that leaven have its natural effects as election cycles come and go.