John 19:10-11 New International Version
10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
When I was a kid, maybe around 10-12 or so, I used to play a game involving army men and my neighbor Eric Blum's sandbox. Eric and I would build sand fortifications, tunnels, and hideouts on our own half of the sandbox and then strategically hide our dozen or so army men throughout these prepared positions. At this point, we would take turns tossing a heavy, to us at least, rock at each others' side until one or the other of us had no army men left that had not been smashed by a rock or buried in their sand fort. I'm not sure which one of us came up with this game, it was akin to Battleship in that the best way to win was to cunningly hide a guy or two where your opponent wouldn't think to toss a rock, but it entertained us for a few summers in between games of tag, dodge ball, and Little League.
The point of this stroll down memory lane? We were as far from real power playing in the sandbox as Pontius Pilate was thinking he had real authority over Jesus. Now, in the real world real tyrants like Pilate hurt real people, but those tyrants' power compared to the authority of Almighty God is no greater than kids pretending to lob artillery at plastic soldiers. It may impress a child, but adults should know better. The point is not to minimize the harm that evil people can do when they posses this comparatively limited power here on earth, after all God was concerned enough about these things to send prophets to oppose such abuses, but rather to remind us that all such power here on earth is delegated, transitory, and ultimately feeble in comparison to that of him who will judge the living and the dead.
The connection to 'Christian' Nationalism is obvious. Why are 'Christian' Nationalists willing to compromise their ethics to grasp after power that is, at best, only limited and temporary? In reality, those who follow Jesus have much higher, much more noble, and certainly more lasting power to aim at and utilize: The Gospel.
The power of God in the Gospel will save souls, transform hearts and minds, and set lives on the course of righteousness. Only a fool would trade this power for the ability to rule over other people in this life.
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