Christian Subjection to Government Authorities - Misquoting Paul to Serve Caesar

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions quoted Romans 13 in his justification of the Trump Administration's border policy of separating migrant children from their parents. This passage seems to be a favorite of Christianists who use Christian scriptures in service of the American government. It is a distortion of what Paul likely meant in his exhortation to the Roman Christians. But what did Paul mean and why does his context matter?

First, let's look at Romans 13:1-7 from the New Revised Standard translation:

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them-- taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

On the surface, this passage seems to say Christians are to obey anything the governing authorities tell them to do. On the surface reading, Jeff Sessions' using this passage to justify migrant separations at the border seems to be supported. Of course, this passage was also used by those who upheld the institution of slavery in the 19th century. It seems this is the "go to" cover for any act of governing authorities, even when those authorities are acting in ways which violate "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" - or even God's commandments in other parts of the Bible. The problem is these verses are being taken out of their original context and distorted in a process we call "proof-texting" - that is, looking for scriptures to justify our ways instead of letting the scriptures move us towards God's ways. If that's the case, what was Paul talking about??

First remember this: being a Christian in 1st century Rome automatically made you a criminal in the eyes of Caesar and the government authorities. That's something we forget in America because Christianity has held a place of privilege in Western Civilization since the Emperor Constantine converted in 313 CE. Christianity became the official religion of the Empire and was co-opted by it even to this day (a good read on this is Meg Gorzycki's Caesar Ate My Jesus: A Baby Boomer's Reflection on Spirituality in the American Empire). In order to really understand Paul, you have to start from the place of being a criminal. Paul was an outlaw follower of a criminal enterprise founded by a convicted Palestinian Jew named Jesus who was crucified by the Romans in collusion with the local religious authorities. Following this movement meant you were against the governing authorities by virtue of your faith and nothing more. If Paul was giving blanket approval to government authorities as one who was branded a criminal by those same authorities, well that just doesn't make much sense, right?

Paul, a Roman citizen who is a criminal by the Empire's definition, is writing this letter to fellow criminals in Rome. Since that's the case, Paul is not saying that the governing authorities are necessarily doing God's will. He is saying God has allowed them to be appointed and whatever they do to you, do not resist. This is a call to radical non-violence. If the governing authorities arrest you and put you to death for being a Christian, so be it and do not resist. Americans have a hard time wrapping their heads around the radical call to submission and non-violence. I once heard Stanley Hauerwas give a lecture on "Luther and War" wherein he said, "American Christians are more American than they are Christian." (Ouch! True but ouch). Living in a place where Christianity is nominally practiced and privileged if it conforms to the government, we struggle to understand Paul in his own context of being a criminal subject to persecution by the governing authorities.

There is also an historical context to these verses having to do with his exhortation to the Romans to pay their taxes. His comments on submission to the governmental authorities is directly tied to the matter of paying taxes. For Jews and early Christians, paying taxes was a troublesome thing because taxes supported the Roman religious cult of Caesar - whom the Romans were to worship as a living, incarnation of the Roman god Zeus. If the Romans worshiped a "god incarnate" in Caesar and Christians proclaimed the Jewish God incarnate was Jesus of Nazareth, we have competing belief systems, don't we? Belief in Jesus was a direct contradiction to worship of Caesar. If Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. Therefore, to pay taxes to Rome was to commit blasphemy in the eyes of both Jews and early Christians. So questions of paying taxes were fraught with both theological and political implications - something we Americans do not understand.

Tacitus

Because of the tension around paying taxes being blasphemous, Jewish tax protests and riots broke out sporadically. The Roman historian Tacitus (b. 54 CE, d. 120 CE) wrote the history of the Empire in his work The Annals. In it, he spoke of the Emperor Nero putting down tax riots in Puteoli by the dispatch of Roman troops and "a few executions." Paul, writing to the neighboring Romans whom he had never met personally, had the matter of these Puteoli riots on his heart as he crafted his letter. At this stage of Christian history, Jews and Christians often worked closely together and, in the Holy Land, Christianity was known as "The Way of the Nazarene", a fringe sect of Judaism. Paul would have been quite concerned that the Roman Christians would be tempted to get involved in these tax protests because of a shared theological view the taxes were blasphemous.

With this event on Paul's mind, it is likely he wrote these opening lines to Romans 13 to essentially exhort the Roman Christians to stay out of these particular tax protests and riots. After all, if just being Christians makes you outlaws and criminals in the eyes of the government, why bring down Caesar's wrath if you don't have to? Taxes are not the theological hill Paul thinks the Roman Christians should die on so submit to the governmental authorities, pay your taxes, and otherwise keep your nose clean. After all, there is more important work to do for the Kingdom of God.

So the next time someone tells you that Romans 13 instructs Christians to blindly and unquestioningly obey government authorities, even when they are doing ungodly acts, share this with them. It's too bad Jeff Sessions, a member of Ashland United Methodist Church in Mobile, Alabama, didn't do the deep dive into the meaning of this scripture before misusing it.

It's the end of the world as we know it

The stream of consciousness 1987 REM song is a favorite of mine when I preach apocalyptic texts. When I put it into a sermon, I can even get the GenXers singing along. But what happens when the apocalypse is really happening? Will you "feel fine" with the "end of the world as we know it?"

I confess I don't feel very fine right now. There are folks in the evangelical/literalist branch of Christianity who would judge me for this and tell me it's because my faith is weak and it's all in God's plan and then spew some gnostic Rapture heresy at me. Bless their hearts.

No, I don't feel fine because I take the scriptures more seriously than this and I have read and deeply studied the WHOLE book of Revelation which includes two more chapters that evangelicals simply ignore. They stop with the Battle of Armageddon and the defeat of Satan and ignore the next two chapters about the "new heaven" and "new earth" coming towards us and how this earth will be resurrected in a new form.

"What??!!" you ask, "Wait, you mean this earth matters to God??!!"

Well, in short, Revelation says an "YES!" and might even add a "Duh!" for extra emphasis.

This week Greta Thunberg, a remarkable 16 year-old who has been striking from school over the issue of climate change since last year, has been here in America. Greta is on the autism spectrum so she has some behavior quirks that the climate deniers latched onto in order to attempt to discredit her. This was her response:

This young woman shook the pillars of the United Nations with her speech to the climate summit:

And she is right. She should not have to be doing this! We are failing our children. We are failing them because of bad theology, willful stupidity, and corporate greed.

As sentient beings, our sacred texts tell us that we are made in the image of God - the ultimate Sentient Being. Science is telling us the truth about what is happening to our only home. Scientists are using their God-given sentience and intelligence as prophetic witnesses of our greed, our pride and our selfishness. Science is not in opposition to God's will - our greed, pride, and selfishness are the sins which oppose God's will!

Evangelicals who gleefully hope for a destruction of this earth are preaching heresy and are putting God to the test by their recklessness. We are commanded not to test God (Deuteronomy 6:16) and testing God by trashing the earth in hopes you can force the Second Coming is horrible theology. Remember, John 3:16 actually says "For God so love the cosmos" - the whole of God's creation was loved and is why Jesus came so the whole of creation may have eternal life beginning right here and now.

We are partners in defeating the evil we face. God will not magically fix this for us and scripture tells us God's will is for a new heaven and new earth to come to us - it's not a magic "escape plan" for a select few. The evil of sinful greed has been fed by an unsustainable model of capitalistic extraction technologies. It can be redeemed but only if we repent - turn around and seek another way which follows God's will for all to have abundant life. This will require sacrifice. It will not be easy but the alternative won't be easy either.

The earth can and will press the "reset" button on our stupidity. It comes through mass extinction. I don't want to face my children, or anyone's children for that matter, and say, "Well, we didn't do anything about this and it's your problem now." I cannot face anyone and candy-coat this with some story about how believers will be saved from the hellish nightmare of global collapse because it's crappy theology and just not true. The Bible has many stories of how God let the chosen people live with the consequences of their actions to the point of suffering and death.

Jesus followers, it's time we stand up against forces which are killing our planet. Every single one of us has the capacity to act in our own sphere of influence. Yesterday was the first day of Autumn and it was 92 degrees in Ellicott City, Maryland. This is not normal and the time has passed for "business as usual." The "end of the world as we know it" is here, but it does not have to conclude with the destruction of the earth - the greatest gift our God has given us.

... I was a stranger and you welcomed me ... Matthew 25:35

Just four days after my ordination to the priesthood in February 2008, on Shrove Tuesday, I had to make a difficult call to my bishop informing him that the mission congregation I was leading was likely going to close. I hadn't counted on my first call out of seminary turning into a hospice chaplaincy for fifteen faithful souls who had run out of money, energy and time - but here we were. The congregation entered a focused discernment and by Holy Week they had come to the conclusion that staying together was not the faithful option. We stopped worshiping as a community on Good Friday - the quintessential day for a death and burial.

Thankfully, the members of that community found homes in other churches and most even remained in the Episcopal Church. But for me as a newly ordained priest, this was not the optimal vocational move. Closing a church is every clergy's worst nightmare and having this as my first "resume item" had some pretty bad optics. Even though I was a "second vocation" priest having 38 years of Episcopal experience in ministry, I was still a "rookie priest" and it was 2008 ... remember what happened that year? By fall, the financial markets had collapsed and we were in a worldwide recession - honestly it was an economic depression but nobody likes to speak that truth.

Unemployed, and in the eyes of some unemployable, I was considering option of leaving the ministry already. Who knows? Maybe God's plan was to call me to close a congregation and then I was done. Maybe God was mad at me for something. Maybe I needed to go back to the choir and hang out there. Looking back, this was not my faith talking but my fears - it's what happens when you're unemployed. But I kept getting up and I kept showing up, mostly through the summer doing clergy supply - thank God for my fellow priests who needed vacations!

One September day, I decided to show up at the Frederick Ministerial meeting at Frederick Presbyterian Church. It was there that I reconnected with Pastor Ken Dunnington of Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick. We hadn't seen each other in awhile and he asked if I was still in search for a new call.

"Yes, but things aren't looking too good," I replied.

"Well, I may have something for you. Would you consider something part-time?"

"Sure. Part-time beats no time."

And that's how, on All Saints Day, I was called to be the part-time Visitation Pastor at Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick, Maryland. I also concurrently served a very part-time interim position at St. Luke's in the City in southwest Baltimore and a brief stint at my home parish - and I learned how two part-time calls are harder than one full-time one ... but I digress. My role as Visitation Pastor was to call on the home bound members of Calvary and bring them Holy Communion. In addition, I made hospital calls, preached on occasion and presided at many funerals. I served there for about a year after which I left for full-time employment as a chaplain at a local hospice - no question that my time at Calvary prepared me for that call.

During my pastorate at Calvary, I came to know many people whom I love and cherish as fellow pilgrims in the Jesus Movement and I came to more deeply appreciate the Wesleys - their passion for social justice, their deep commitment to the practice of praying the Daily Offices and regular reception of Holy Communion (they were the "high church Anglicans" back at the time of the Reformation), the beauty of their hymnody and music. I made some lasting friendships and ministry colleagues in Pastor Ken and his wife Sandy, Pastor Eliezar Valentin-Castenon and his family, Pastors Kate Heflin and Sarah Schliekert, Pastor Ray Moreland, and my predecessor (who would later become my successor) Pastor Harry Cole. This was all in addition to the remarkable staff and members who lived their Christian faith not only in the congregation but in the world. Like all churches, it had its ups and downs as we followed Jesus imperfectly and clumsily trying to be the Beloved Community and be the gospel in the world; but overall, I experienced a genuine and loving community filled with sanctifying grace.

In truth, I was a stranger and they welcomed me, this displaced Anglo-Catholic priest. I danced to a syncopated leitmotif in the UMC liturgy. I crossed myself during the Creed, bowed my head at the Name of Jesus, and when I gave the blessing made the unabashed (and rather large) sign of the cross over the congregation - and overall it was cool with them. When the Book of Worship was just so close in wording to the Book of Common Prayer (but not quite) that I stumbled, they were patient with me. When I prayed in "collect form" rather than a longer pastoral prayer - they accepted it. In turn, they taught me all the alto parts of the Wesleyan hymns, what it felt like to have your heart "strangely warmed", encouraged my preaching and teaching, and to be accepted as a "stranger in a strange land." I hold deep and lasting gratitude for my year long sojourn in the United Methodist Church.

This is why my heart is breaking for them this morning. Yesterday, their 2019 General Conference concluded after rejecting a way forward over the matter of full inclusion of LGBTQ members. The One Church proposal would have given local congregations the ability to make the decision about full inclusion of the LGBTQ community. This proposal failed in favor of the Traditional Plan which asserts that same-sex unions are incompatible with scripture and clergy in same-sex relationships and marriages are subject to discipline/removal. The unicameral, worldwide polity of the UMC is weighted the vote in favor of a very conservative approach as African and Asian churches have equal voice and are more conservative in their views of same-sex relationships. Today, many of my UMC friends are feeling like strangers in their own church but sadly not welcomed.

St. Paul spoke of he Church as the Body of Christ and said, "If one members suffers, all suffer together..." (1 Corinthians 12:26a). Today, one member is suffering and we all suffer together. Conferences and legislative processes can be antithetical to building community. Disciplinary measures and proof-texting of Scripture can become weapons used to purge the Church of people whose presence makes us uncomfortable - and all the while Jesus weeps.

My heart aches because my own Episcopal Church is no stranger to these kinds of divisions. We have been wracked by the same forces and arguments the UMC is now experiencing. We too have been the targets of the Institute for Religion and Democracy (which I would argue is neither for democracy or religion but rather a thinly veiled Christian Taliban promoting a narrowly interpreted theocracy) and we know what money and partisan politics can do to the Body of Christ. We have experienced the forces which would rend us asunder and the broken relationships which result. We grieve with you today and hold you in prayer.

So for my friends in the UMC on both sides of this painful issue, I am praying. For those who would exclude LGBTQ folk from ministry based on your interpretation of scripture, I pray your hearts may be soften (dare I say "strangely warmed") to listen deeply and humbly to the LGBTQ community remembering Jesus had much to say about self-righteousness (spoiler alert: none of it was good) that you may see there are other ways of interpreting scripture and that these beloved are created in the image of God as much as you are. For those in the LGBTQ community and your allies: I pray for healing grace to soothe your pain, to remember your are beloved of God, to remember the Church and Jesus are not one in the same, and that you may find rest for your souls no matter where Christ leads you in the future.

When I was a stranger, you welcomed me. I pray you find the way to welcome each other in the love of Christ.