Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
Dear Friend of Renewed Heart Ministries,
Thank You for Your Support of Renewed Heart Ministries in 2025
As 2025 has come to a close, I want to personally thank you for your generous support of Renewed Heart Ministries this year. Your commitment and generosity make our work possible, and we are deeply grateful for the trust you place in this mission.
Because of you, Renewed Heart Ministries continues to challenge injustice, amplify voices too often ignored, and encourage people of faith to follow Jesus in ways that are courageous, compassionate, and transformative. Your support allows us to create resources, foster conversations, and nurture communities committed to love, dignity, and liberation for all, especially those pushed to the margins.
In a time when injustice can feel overwhelming and hope fragile, your partnership reminds us that meaningful change is built together. Every gift, large or small, is a tangible act of solidarity and a powerful statement that justice, mercy, and radical love still matter.
As we look ahead to the coming year, your support gives us the strength to continue this work with clarity and resolve. We are excited about what lies ahead and honored to walk this journey with you.
Thank you for standing with Renewed Heart Ministries in 2025. Your generosity truly makes a difference.
With gratitude and hope,
Herb Montgomery
Director
Renewed Heart Ministries
renewedheartministries.com
Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
Herb Montgomery | January 9, 2026
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this week is from the gospel of Matthew:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17)
The narratives of Jesus’ baptism in each of the synoptic gospels are deeply rooted in themes of social justice.
John’s baptism ritual was associated with repentance and returning to the justice teachings of the Torah among the marginalized communities of his time. By submitting to John’s baptism in the Jordan, Jesus publicly aligns himself with John’s justice movement in the wilderness.
Also, John’s ministry was wholly outside of the Temple State’s power structure. Born into a priestly family tied to the Jerusalem Temple, John the Baptist inherited a path toward institutional political/religious authority. He deliberately stepped away from that system. Instead of participating with the Temple State’s complicity with the Roman empire, John went to the wilderness—a place of resistance, testing, and renewal in Israel’s story. There he preached repentance, not as private piety but as a public call to societal transformation. By baptizing outside Temple control, John challenged the idea that access to God was mediated by institutions. His wilderness ministry confronted religious complicity with imperial power, announcing that renewal would come from the margins, not the center.
The Jordan River itself evokes liberation memory, recalling Israel’s crossing from oppression into freedom. In our reading this week, by stepping into these waters, Jesus identifies with a people longing for justice amid Roman occupation and economic exploitation. The divine affirmation “You are my beloved” is not a private spiritual moment but a public declaration that God stands with this justice-oriented movement. The descent of the Spirit signals empowerment for a mission that will challenge systems of exclusion, heal those cast aside, and confront those in positions of power harming vulnerable people on the edges of society. Jesus’ baptism inaugurates a ministry grounded in solidarity with the oppressed, announcing that repentance is not merely personal morality but also a call to reorder society toward equity, justice, and collective flourishing.
As the social location of Christianity changed and it ultimately became united with the empire (a collusion with empire that John spent his ministry condemning) the meaning of Jesus’ baptism as solidarity with John’s anti-Imperialism became lost. Before the fourth century, Christianity existed largely as a marginal and often persecuted movement within the Roman Empire. Its identity was shaped by small, decentralized communities that emphasized following Jesus in ways that implicitly challenged imperial claims of ultimate authority. This situation changed dramatically under Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century.
After Constantine’s conversion and the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, Christianity moved from persecution to imperial favor. The church gained legal status, imperial patronage, and material support, including land, buildings, and financial resources. Bishops increasingly assumed roles resembling imperial administrators, and ecclesial structures began to mirror Roman political hierarchies. This was a kind of collusion that the elites of the Temple State also chose in John the Baptist’s time.
As Christianity aligned with empire, its theology and practices adapted accordingly. The cross, once a symbol of Rome’s crushing violent response to any social uprising, became a sign of Christian victory. Jesus was increasingly portrayed by Imperial Christianity in regal and triumphant imagery that resonated with Roman ideals of power. The church’s earlier resistance to violence softened as justifications for imperial warfare and coercion emerged. Unity of belief was no longer merely a theological concern but a matter of imperial stability. Constantine’s involvement in the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) illustrates this shift: doctrinal disputes were addressed with the emperor acting as convener and enforcer. Constantine bound orthodoxy to imperial authority.
This union brought undeniable benefits such as security, growth, and cultural influence for Christianity, but it also marked a profound transformation. Christianity moved from a countercultural movement shaped by the margins to a religion intertwined with state power. The Constanti“nian shift continues to shape Christian theology, ethics, and politics, raising enduring questions about what it means to be a follower of Jesus today.
Along with all of these changes, the way the Jesus story was interpreted changed, too. And interpretations of Jesus’ baptism were not exempt. Jesus’ baptism became problematic for the church. Christianity no longer interpreted the baptism of Jesus by John as political alignment with rejection of empire and a return to the Torah’s social justice teachings. Jesus’ baptism by John rather began to be interpreted as more about personal piety than a movement for social change. For example, Jerome, an ecclesiastical author who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, quotes the Gospel of the Nazoreans:
Note that the Lord’s mother and his brothers said to him, “John the Baptist practiced baptism for the remission of sins. We should go and be baptized by him.” To this Jesus replied, “What sin have I committed that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless, of course, what I just said is itself a sin of ignorance.”
The facts that Jesus had been baptized by John at all and that John was Jesus’ mentor for a time became a source of tension for the Christian community because of their high claims for Jesus. The Church developed various apologetic ploys to explain Jesus’ connection to John as well as to Jewish religion itself.
Yet, the Gospels consistently present Jesus as emerging from the movement begun by John the Baptist, and this connection is best understood not merely as a ritual or personal association but as their participation in a broader social justice movement. John’s ministry in the wilderness was a prophetic critique of the political, economic, and religious systems of his day. By calling people to repentance in the Jordan, John was challenging the Temple-state alliance that mediated forgiveness through expensive sacrifice, taxation, and elite control. His baptism offered an alternative vision of communal renewal apart from institutional power.
John’s message also had explicit social and economic dimensions. In Luke’s Gospel, John instructs the crowds to share clothing and food, demands that tax collectors stop exploiting others, and tells soldiers to reject extortion and violence. These directives confronted systemic injustice rather than focusing solely on private morality. John announced God’s imminent reign as a reordering of society, one that threatened both Roman authority and its local collaborators. His execution by Herod Antipas underscores the political danger of his movement.
Jesus’ baptism by John signifies his identification with this vision. Rather than distancing himself from John, Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming the same kingdom message as John did, and he gathers a community shaped by similar ethical demands. Jesus expands John’s work by centering it on the poor, the sick, and the socially excluded, and by intensifying its critiques of wealth, domination, and religious hypocrisy.
Seen in this light, Jesus’ connection to John is not incidental but foundational. Jesus inherits and radicalizes John’s social justice movement, transforming prophetic protest into a sustained, embodied challenge to systems that dehumanize, exploit, and exclude. This challenge was an inheritance that ultimately led to Jesus, like John, being executed by the social power they both confronted.
Following Jesus today cannot be separated from a commitment to social justice, because Jesus’ life and teachings, like John the Baptist’s, consistently confronted systems that harmed the vulnerable and concentrated power in the hands of a few. The Gospels portray Jesus not only as a spiritual teacher but as a public figure whose message of God’s reign challenged economic exploitation, social exclusion, and religious complicity with injustice. To follow Jesus, then, is to take seriously the ethical and political implications of his vision.
Jesus announced good news to the poor, release to captives, and freedom for the oppressed. These were not abstract spiritual metaphors but concrete promises that addressed real suffering. He healed the sick, restored those labeled “unclean,” and formed a community that crossed boundaries of class, gender, ethnicity, and socially constructed definitions of moral respectability. His teachings on wealth (warning the rich, blessing the poor, and calling for radical generosity) directly confronted economic systems that produced inequality and deprivation.
In today’s context, following Jesus means discerning how similar systems operate in modern forms: racism, economic injustice, nationalism, environmental destruction, fear and exclusion of LGBTQ people, and policies that marginalize immigrants, the disabled, and the poor. Faithfulness is not limited to personal piety or charity, important as those are, but extends to challenging structures that perpetuate harm. Jesus’ call to love one’s neighbor and enemy alike demands resistance to narratives that dehumanize others for political or economic gain.
The end of the Jesus story reminds Christians that confronting injustice is costly. Jesus was executed not for private belief but for embodying a way of life that threatened established power. Resurrection faith, then, is not escapism but hope that justice, compassion, and solidarity can outlast violence and death.
To follow Jesus today is to walk in that same path. It means standing with those on the margins, advocating for systemic change not political dominance, and embodying a love that seeks the restoration of human dignity and the healing of the world. It means we join Jesus in the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for all.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. In this new year, what existing call for justice is presently on your heart? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
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Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 3 Episode 2: Jesus’ Baptism as Alignment with a Movement for Justice
Matthew 3:13-17
Jesus’ baptism by John signifies his identification with John’s vision. Rather than distancing himself from John, Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming the same kingdom message as John did, and he gathers a community shaped by similar ethical demands. Jesus expands John’s work by centering it on the poor, the sick, and the socially excluded, and by intensifying its critiques of wealth, domination, and religious hypocrisy. Seen in this light, Jesus’ connection to John is not incidental but foundational. Jesus inherits and radicalizes John’s social justice movement, transforming prophetic protest into a sustained, embodied challenge to systems that dehumanize, exploit, and exclude. This challenge was an inheritance that ultimately led to Jesus, like John, being executed by the social power they both confronted. Following Jesus today cannot be separated from a commitment to social justice, because Jesus’ life and teachings, like John the Baptist’s, consistently confronted systems that harmed the vulnerable and concentrated power in the hands of a few. The Gospels portray Jesus not only as a spiritual teacher but as a public figure whose message of God’s reign challenged economic exploitation, social exclusion, and religious complicity with injustice. To follow Jesus, then, is to take seriously the ethical and political implications of his vision.
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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A Primer on Self Affirming, Nonviolence (Part 2)
“Today we live in the wake of these changes. Christianity and its Jesus fell in the same way as all the other religions taken in by Rome . . . If the bloody violence of Christianity’s history has taught us anything, it is that we must question the Christian theory of justified violence including redemptive violence.”
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This week we’re continuing the series we began last week on the self-affirming, nonviolent resistance of Jesus.
In this second part, we’ll consider the shift from what Christians originally taught about nonviolence (see A Primer on Self Affirming, Nonviolence (Part 1), and what they began to teach after their social location changed when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Later in the series I will critique the Church Fathers’ self-sacrificial nonviolence and compare it to what I believe is Jesus’ self-affirming nonviolence. For now, I want you to note the contrast between early Christian nonviolence and the later use of violence, not as a periodic exception to Jesus’ teaching, but as the preferred method of converting non-Christians. Let’s again read from Christian teachers writing before the change:
“We [Christians] no longer take up sword against nation, nor do we learn war any more, but we have become the children of peace.” — Origin
“And shall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? And shall he apply the chain, and the prison, and the torture, and the punishment, who is not the avenger even of his own wrongs?” — Tertullian
“Anyone who has the power of the sword, or who is a civil magistrate wearing the purple, should desist or he should be rejected.”—Hippolytus
Hippolytus recommended that the Church excommunicate those who enlisted in the military or took a political office where they were responsible for wielding Rome’s sword.
“Rather, it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it. We would rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another.” —Arnobius
“It makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited.”—Arnobius
Again, with “by word,” Arnobius, like Hippolytus above, is referring to holding a political office where one commands state violence.
“When God forbids killing, he doesn’t just ban murder (some translations read ‘brigandage’), which is not permitted under the law even; He is also recommending us not to do certain things which are treated as lawful among men…whether you kill a man with a sword or a word makes no difference, since killing itself is banned.”—Lactantius, the tutor of Emperor Constantine’s son.
“…no exceptions at all ought to be made to the rule that it is always wrong to kill a man, whom God has wished to be regarded as a sacrosanct creature.”—Lactantius
Yet about a hundred years after Rome embraced the Christian religion, it was illegal not to be a Christian (there was an exception for Jews), and you could not serve in the military unless you were a Christian: You were not trusted as loyal unless you were a Christian.
How did Christianity get to that point?
On October 28, 312, Constantine was engaged in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against his rival, Roman Emperor Maxentius. Lactantius recounts that, on the evening of October 27, just prior to the battle, Constantine had had a vision of the Christian God promising victory if his soldiers daubed the sign of the cross on their shields. (The details of the vision differ among sources reporting it. Lactantius reports that the vision promised victory if Constantine would delineate “the heavenly sign [‘the letter X, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being the cipher of CHRIST’] on the shields of his soldiers” (On the Deaths of the Persecutors, Chap. 44). Eusebius also reports that the sign God instructed them to use on their shields was the Chi Rho symbol. These reports of Constantine’s vision state that he saw a cross of light with the inscription, “through this sign you shall conquer.”
There are various theories today about these reports. Some view the vision as legend with no historical basis. Others believe Constantine made up the story after the fact: he was a great political strategist and saw a way to coopt Christianity’s influence by uniting Christianity and Rome. Each theory is speculation, including the popular historical interpretation that the vision was genuine and that Jesus actually supported Roman conquests. What we know for sure is what happened within Christianity after this period. The Christian church’s social location changed dramatically, and what happens to individuals and communities that transition from “Have-not” to “Have” continues to amaze me.
Constantine declared Christianity a religio licita (a legal religion) through the Edict of Milan. He lavished gifts upon all Church leaders, increasing their salaries, exempting them from paying taxes, building church buildings, and funding Bible copying. Through this support, Church became centered in a building rather than in a group of people and crucifixion and gladiatorial games were abolished because of their connection with Christian victimization and trauma. The first day of the week was also declared a weekly holiday for all people and the Christian calendar absorbed pagan holidays. Pagan temples were converted into Christian churches, with statues of Roman gods replaced by statues of the Apostles and other biblical characters.
Eventually, Christianity’s becoming the official religion of the Roman empire would lead to new theological and ethical interpretations as well as new practices. Augustine, Eusebius, and others began to see Christianity’s new social location and its political power as having been handed to them by God Himself, and for the first time in history, Christians began wielding a sword in Jesus’ name. In the subsequent centuries we would get a brand new Christian norm:
“When people falsely assert that you are not allowed to take up the physical sword or fight bodily against the enemies of the Church, it is the devil trying to attack the fabric of your Order.”—Jacques de Vitry
Notice that the non-violent teachings of Jesus had come to be redefined as of the “devil.”
“Do not ever be ashamed, O Bride of Heaven, to take up the sword against heretics; for the God still lives who sanctified such action through the arms of David.”—John of Mantua
Jesus’ nonviolence would be sidelined and the example of more violent figures from the scriptures would began to take center stage. Military leaders such as David and Joshua and others became the models of the Christian faith, and Christians, like the majority of evangelicals today, even embraced bodily torture. As Pope Innocent IV once wrote, “Bodily torture has been found the most salutary and efficient means of leading to spiritual repentance.”
Through the Church and State becoming unified, violence in defense of both became justified.
Some of the greatest minds in Christianity would come up with Biblical support for this turn. Augustine (354–430 C.E.) and, later, Aquinas (1225–1274 C.E.) made significant interpretive changes. Augustine, a bright theological mind in his time, developed and defended a “justified violence” theory for Christians based upon existing Roman and Greek thought. Christians were now encouraged to join the army and to become involved in government. Violence could be used as God’s instrument to “punish” evildoers (e.g., Romans 13:1- 7), and Augustine saw punishment as a more justifiable motive than self-defense. By 416 C.E., all Roman soldiers were required to be Christians. Up until this time, “pagan” had simply meant civilian as opposed to soldier. It came to mean non-Christian as opposed to believer.
Here is a sampling of the new Augustinian teaching:
“War is waged to serve the peace. You must, therefore, be a peacemaker even to waging war, so that by your conquest, you may lead those you subdue to the enjoyment of peace.”— Augustine
Peace as an end was separated from peace as the means. War was doing others a favor.
“What, indeed, is wrong with war? That people die who will eventually die anyway so that those who survive may be subdued in peace? A coward complains of this but it does not bother religious people.”— Augustine
“Does anyone doubt that it is preferable for people to be drawn to worship God by teaching rather than forced by fear of punishment or by pain? But because the one type of people is better, it does not mean that the others, who are not of that type, ought to be ignored.”— Augustine
Augustine taught that, yes, it’s better for people to come to worship the Christian God on their own rather than being tortured or threatened with violence, but just because some will choose the Christian God on their own doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t force others to worship. Thisis a complete disconnect from the teachings of Jesus. Augustine’s writing turns more and more to the Bible and to desperate attempts to find some clue in Jesus’ teachings that Jesus really didn’t mean what He taught on nonviolence and enemy love.
Augustine also exhibited dualistic Platonic (Hellenistic/Greek) thinking, which sees the body as separate from an immortal soul. This was in contrast to the more holistic philosophy of ancient Hebrew culture. With a dualist view, you could do whatever was necessary to someone’s body if it saved their soul. So killing someone could be justified if that was how you saved their soul. Augustine taught that it was acceptable to run your enemies through with the sword, as long as you did not kill them with hatred in your heart, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies.
Augustine developed and systematized a religious philosophy that justified saving souls at any cost, even by means of torture and violence. Augustine taught that the Christian should respond to torturing confessions out of others by crying “fountains of tears” for this “necessary state of affairs.” But never did he stop to consider that torture itself might be wrong. This was the origin of Christianity embracing “justified violence” in the form of the “just war” theory supported by the contemporary, Americanized, evangelical worldview.
Today we live in the wake of these changes. Christianity and its Jesus fell in the same way as all the other religions taken in by Rome. When Rome embraced the Greek gods, their appearance in pictures and statues changed. Under Roman influence, for example, Zeus (Greek) became Jupiter (Roman). But it wasn’t just their names that changed; their attributes changed too. Under Rome, the Greek gods became more warlike, and more distant, not mingling with mortals as much. They became harsher and more powerful. They came to stand for discipline, honor, strength, and violence. For instance, Hypnos, Greek god of sleep, didn’t do much until Romanized. The Romans called him Somnus, and he liked killing people who didn’t stay alert at their jobs: if they nodded off at the wrong time, they never woke up. This same pattern took place as Rome remade the Christian God, Jesus.
If the bloody violence of Christianity’s history has taught us anything, it is that we must question the Christian theory of justified violence including redemptive violence.
Next week we will begin unpacking our first passage in this series from the Gospels. What could Jesus have meant when he taught turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, and the stripping off of one’s under garment? Thank you for staying with us.
HeartGroup Application
- What value do you see in Christians specifically returning to an ethic of nonviolence within our society today? Explain with
you group. - In what ways do you see American values today influencing sectors of Christianity and Christian rhetoric as Roman values did in the above history?
- Where do you see the values and ethics of the Jesus story as being in contradiction with current practices of the American empire today or
it’s leadership?
Thanks for checking in with us this week.
Wherever you are, keep choosing love, compassion, action and reparative and distributive justice.
Another world is possible, if we choose it.
Don’t forget, we need your support here at RHM to continue making a difference.
I love each of you dearly.
I’ll see you next week.
Why Christians Should Be the Last People on Earth to Justify the Use of Torture for the Protection of National Security
by Herb Montgomery
“You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”—Caiaphas (John 11.50)
Substitute the word “tortured” in place of the word “die” in the above passage and you’ve got quite a provocative story.
I’m presently alarmed at hearing how many Christians are justifying America’s use of torture, saying things like, “They did what they had to do to protect the American nation.”
The first time I heard those words, the words of Caiaphas rang in my ears. This mentality, this logic, this philosophy, this way of reasoning should be the last for any follower of Jesus, for it was this way of reasoning that led to the death of our Lord. It’s this reasoning that killed Jesus.
It’s this line of reasoning that led to the torturing of your Jesus. It’s this line of reasoning that led to your Jesus being bound and “blindfolded,” made to stand within a circle of men and guards who “spat in his face,” “slapped him” repeatedly, “struck” him, shouting “insults,” tauntingly endeavoring to intimidate him by asking him over and over to tell them, “Who struck you?”[1] And this was only by the ecclesiastical structure.
Jesus was charged with suspicion of insurrection[2] against the Roman Empire and then turned over to a group of Roman soldiers who had no knowledge of the preceding case. The soldiers didn’t know Pilate believed he was innocent. If Jesus was standing before them he must have been guilty, and they were required to follow orders. After all, the peace of Rome (the Pax Romana, Rome’s national interests) was at stake!
So the military soldiers of the Roman Empire did to Jesus what they did to all suspected insurgents. (Remember that torture and crucifixion was reserved for the political enemies of Rome.)
The whole cohort of military soldiers was gathered around Jesus. They “stripped” him and made him stand naked in front of them all. After they chained him to a post and tortured him, they dressed this insurgent in the royal garb of an opposing empire. Then they taunted him, spat in his face and struck him repeatedly upon his wounds. [3]
Then they led him away to be torturously executed.
Yes, it’s ugly to consider—but this, the torture of your Jesus, is where your philosophy that torture is necessary to protect national interests leads.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s critique of Caiaphas’ justification of using violence, including torture, for the purpose of protecting national interests (“Better for one man to die than the whole nation destroyed”—John 11.50). When Jesus died as a result of Caiaphas’ methodology, the entire philosophy of justifying violence for national preservation was unmasked. By God resurrecting Jesus, God is, once and for all, unequivocally critiquing the way of the empire, torturing suspected threats included. The resurrection locates God within the narrative. God was not with Caiaphas, protecting Jewish national interests. God was not with Herod, protecting economic interests of the wealthy. God was not with Pilate, protecting Roman imperial interests. The resurrection reveals that God was in the one shamefully tortured and suspended on a tree at the orders of superiors and at the hands of those who were simply following the chain of command. The resurrection is God’s action over and against the torture and death of Jesus as a necessary evil for national security. In the resurrection, God undoes and reverses the torture and death of Jesus and makes known for all to acknowledge, “I’m in solidarity with this one whom you tortured.”[4]
The narrative of the death and resurrection of Jesus is saying to us that this entire philosophy is flawed, for if even God were to show up and be perceived as potential threat, a suspected insurgent, even with due process, the system would torture and murder God, too.
As Mark Van Steenwyk recently stated, “In case Christians need reminding, we worship a suspected Middle Eastern insurgent who was tortured.”
It is always the fear of a foreign threat that drives the methodology of violence, including torture. In the 16th century, it was fear of the Turks taking over Europe that led to the torture and murder of the Anabaptists who spoke out against violence in the name of national interest. In Jesus’ day, it was fear of the Romans that caused Jesus’ Jewish audience to reject his critique of violence. In our time, Martin Luther King Jr. was quickly assassinated when he added a critique of the use of violence for the protection of national interests in Vietnam to his platform of racial equality. Gandhi, too, was murdered when his nonviolence was seen as no longer a tool for national interest, but as a threat. It was this fear of foreign threat that has also radically changed the face of Christianity for the last 1,700 years.
Let me tell you a story. For the first 300 years of Christianity, Jesus’ followers were a nonviolent people who felt it was better to have their own blood shed than to have their hands stained with the blood of another. As Christianity began to exponentially grow, this became a problem to the Roman Empire in the fourth century—for if everyone became a Jesus follower and embraced Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence, who, then, would protect the national interests of Rome against foreign threats? Everyone would become a noncombatant.
Thus began the long and much disputed history of the Constantinian shift within Christianity, where Christianity simply became the tool of the empire.
But let’s imagine for a moment that the national interests of Rome in the fourth century had never compromised Christianity. As Christianity continued to grow, more and more Roman citizens would have embraced Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence. Rome would have eventually fallen to foreign invaders. But the Christians would still have been present, and they would have continued to grow exponentially. Eventually, the new foreign empire would be facing the same challenges to its national interests that Rome had faced and would fall to its foreign threat. But, again, the Christians would still be present and still continue to grow. The third empire coming in contact with these Christians would eventually, too, be facing the same dilemmas. This history would be repeated over and over, until, eventually, you would run out of empires, and Jesus’ new world would have been the last one standing. All empires and national interests (beasts and dragons; see the book of Revelation) would have been overcome by a Lamb—not by a sword, but by a cross.
Would many Christians have died in the process? Absolutely. Yet they would have died with the hope of a resurrection into this new world once it became unobstructed. This is why Jesus emphatically said that the way we are going to change the world is through crosses not swords. Remember, crosses were only used by Rome for those suspected of being a threat to her nation interests.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16.24, emphasis added.)
“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14.27, emphasis added.)
What does this all mean to American Christians today?
What if America, like Rome, has to fail for Jesus’ New World to succeed? Which allegiance would you choose? Would you remain a Jesus follower, or would your American patriotism and the protection of America’s national interests be of greater value? In other words, would you give up being an American to follow the ethical teachings of Jesus?
As Jesus followers, we are to call the nations to embrace the new world that has been founded by this Jesus.[5] When his followers historically have genuinely followed Jesus’ teachings, they have always been seen as a threat to the national interests of whichever empire they were living amidst. They were accused of turning society “upside down, ” as acting “contrary” to the interests of the Roman “empire.”[6] Rather than calling Caesar “Lord,” they proclaimed Jesus was “Lord.” (Acts 16.31.) Rather than calling Caesar “King” and “Son of God,” they proclaimed Jesus as “King” and “Son of God.” (Acts 17.5–7, 9.20.) Rather than justifying actions for the preservation of the “Pax Romana” (Peace through Rome), they proclaimed the “Pax Jesus Christo” (Peace through Jesus Christ). (Acts 10.36.) The refused to subscribe to Rome’s propaganda as being the “Savior of the World,” but instead proclaimed Jesus as the “Savior of the World.” (1 John 4.14.)
For all of these reasons, Jesus followers should be the last to justify the use of torture by any nation to protect that nation’s national interests. Not only was our Lord tortured and killed as a result of this way of reasoning, but Jesus also said we, as those who announce the new world founded by Jesus, we would also be seen as threats to our respective national interests, and tortured and killed as well.
“Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.” (Matthew 24.9, emphasis added.)
Please, my fellow Christians here in America, stop justifying America’s use of torture.
“Love your enemies.”—Jesus, The Gospel of Matthew
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”—Jesus, The Gospel of Matthew
Till the only world that remains is a world where love reigns …
I love each of you.
I’ll see you next week.
1. “Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?’” (Matthew 26. 67–68.)
“Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him, ‘Prophesy!’ The guards also took him over and beat him.” (Mark 14.64–65.)
“Now the men who were holding Jesus began to mock him and beat him; they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, ‘Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?’ They kept heaping many other insults on him.” (Luke 22.63–65.)
“When he had said this, one of the police standing nearby struck Jesus on the face, saying, ‘Is that how you answer the high priest?’” (John 18.22.)
2. “But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’” (Luke 23.5.)
3. “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” (Matthew 27.27–31.)
“Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.” (Mark 15.16–20.)”
“And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and striking him on the face.” (John 19.2–3.)
4. “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know—this man, given to you according to the definite plan and purpose of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” (Acts 2.22–24.)
“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.” (Acts 2.32–33.)
“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2.36.)
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, but God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.” (Acts 3.12–16.)
“Let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’” (Acts 4.10–11.)
“The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Founder and Savior.” (Acts 5.30–32.)
“You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day.” (Acts 10.36–43.)
“Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to
have him killed. When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus.” (Acts 13.23–38.)
5. “Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.’” (Matthew 28.18–17, emphasis added.)
“That night the Lord stood near him and said, ‘Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.’” (Acts 23.11, emphasis added.)
“Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation and tribe and language and people.” (Revelation 14.6, emphasis added.)
“Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All the nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.” (Revelation 15.3–4, emphasis added.)
“To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all the peoples, the nations, and the languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7.13–14, emphasis added.)
“I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb … the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. … On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 21.22–22.2, emphasis added.)
6. “While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house. When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, ‘These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.’” (Acts 17.5–7, emphasis added.)
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