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A biblical motif running from Genesis to Revelation is that of God’s covenant people. It’s a sweeping story of God healing the world through an alternative kinship structure. According to 1 Peter 2, we are a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” and “aliens and strangers in the world.” Our superseding citizenship is not found in any temporal nation but in the eternal Kingdom of God. As followers of The Way, our sole allegiance is to Christ and His Kingdom, not to any political nation, party, figure, agenda, ideology, or the like.
Joyeux Noel is my favorite Christmas movie. It’s a French film telling the true story about the spontaneous WWI truces in December 1914. Soldiers were brutally slaying one another by the thousand on behalf their geo-political puppet masters, then peacefully crawled out of their trenches to celebrate this most sacred holy day by singing Christmas songs, fellowshipping over communion, burying their dead, and playing soccer. The next day they resumed the slaughter. What could possibly be more indicative of where a Christian’s ultimate allegiance lies?
The tragedy of the Christmas 1914 truces isn’t that these soldiers returned to killing one another. It’s that their deepest commitment was ever to their national identities in the first place. That’s sheer idolatry. It’s irrelevant where or when a Jesus follower happens to live. It doesn’t matter if it’s the 1st century Roman Empire or the 21st century United States. Our new covenant family bond transcends our nationalities, ethnicities, people groups, cultures, and languages. Such passing identities should never supplant our true identity as citizens in Christ’s eternal Kingdom.
We pledge allegiance to Christ’s Kingdom alone, which has no flag. Republicanism may be the best available form of government, but our ultimate loyalty belongs to no country. “One Nation under God” is a no-go since a worldly theocracy is anti-Christ. “Indivisible” sounds great, but its reality is suspect in light of the American Civil War and the rest of human history.1 “With liberty and justice for all” are outstanding aspirational ideals that Jesus followers support, but any high school education outside of Florida or Texas shows this has never been the lived reality.
The original beatniks wrote prophetic poetry and polemical prose strongly critiquing the status of American society, but to the best of my knowledge none of ’em ever said or wrote anything about Christians having a spiritual identity whose commitment vastly surpasses their national identity. As such I have no idea if this belief system would’ve generated intrigue, annoyance, or dismissive eye rolls. It could’ve been all the above. What I find telling is that Congress adopted “In God We Trust” in 1956 yet I’m willing to bet the Beat Generation never heard Jesus followers talk this way.
No sovereign state has lasted in perpetuity, so it seems reasonable to assume this, too, shall pass.↩
