Jesus for President....further thoughts

Alright....so I started reading the book and got sidetracked with school. Now I'm back on it with a vengence!!!

My initial reaction to hearing that this book was going to be released was...a strange mixture of excitement and...angst. I had the same feelings as I read The Irresistible Revolution. Now, a couple months after finishing it, I find myself just hungry for more and yet...frustrated because I have no idea where to start changing my lifestyle! There are always "these here reasons." But maybe as I immerse my mind in these ideas...my heart in this truth...right action will be the result.


When I first opened Jesus for President, I was confronted with eight pages of...well, truth. Having grown up in a politically conservative pastor's family, I felt a tinge of defensiveness. But then I wondered why...and read on.
Where to begin, where to begin???
I love the way Shane and Chris open up the cultural/political context of the biblical narrative. It sets so many of the stories in a new and fresh light.
This book is similar to Irresistible Revolution in that the ideas (or is it one unified and strangely intricate-but-simple idea?)are so huge and...potent, yet small...very...well, small.
In that way, the book takes on the same characteristics as the Kingdom - the way Shane and Chris describe it.

The Kingdom of God... is like a mustard seed..." ~Luke 13

Busting out of the popular mold this parable is so often crammed into, the book sheds light on Jesus' inteded meaning...by looking at some matters of culture and context. I'd breeze over this and go on to my next great thought about the book...but I don't have one. As far as I've read in the book (I'm just starting Section Three), this idea is foundational. Much of what I've read so far can be taken back down to this essential truth....so I'm gonna hash it out.
First of all, this is more than the tiny-seed-turned-big-tree lesson we usually hear. Mustard actually grows like a wild bush...like kudzu. Small, pesky, but extrememly powerful. Jews weren't allowed to plant it in their gardens because it would take over the garden...and allow the growth of a "public nuisance." Folks back then were used to thinking of the Kingdom in terms of the huge "cedars of Lebanon." Jesus turned that upside-down! His view of kingdom was nothing like what we have come to associate. I can't beat the way Shane and Chris have put it:

"What Jesus had in mind was not a frontal attack on the empires of this world. His revolution is a subtle contagion - one little life, one little hospitality house at a time. Isn't it interesting that Saul of Tarsus went door-to-door trying to tear up the contagion, like it was a wild week? But the harder people tried to eradicate it, the faster it spread. When mustard is crushed, its potency is released....So there goes Jesus spinning power on its head again. His power was not in crushing but in being crushed, triumphing over the empire's sword with his cross." (p 104)

That all sounds well and good....from a distance. It's nice talk if I want to sound devout and pious. But He meant it to be lived. And not just within the "bounds" of religion.
Speaking of this in terms of faith, religion, belief - whatever you want to call it - I can handle that. It's when I try to translate these ideas to the realm of politics....that's when I start to squirm.

Later on....p 123..."This king rules with a towel, not a sword. In the kingdom of God, we descend into greatness." That's it. The upside-downness of God's kingdom. Christ said Follow me, then went to the cross. This is not a gospel of self-preservation. So much of what I do is absolutely, utterly soaked in preserving my own "well-being." So much of the political action taken in our country (and other countries, to be sure), is in self-defense. Damn the upside-down kingdom! Full speed ahead! And we drop bombs. We kill innocent people. We leave truly needy people in the dust.

"Sure my citizenship is ultimately in heaven, but I have to live in the 'real' world now." I can sooooo relate to this! Part of me sees the lie of redemptive violence. But part of me squirms and screams, But what about the terrorists? What about them? What's to be done with them? We can't just let them get away with it!! In the name of idolatrous self-preservation (call it whatever you want), I settle for a temporary fix. Like taking meds instead of addressing the root problem. Like bandaging a contagious infection. Like whitewashing a tomb.

Maybe this Kingdom of God...does work down deep...quiet...small...but with unspeakable power. Maybe His way won't lead to my idea of "well-being"...the preservation of the many comforts I love and depend on. Maybe....just maybe...the results will be more slow in coming. But they will be lasting. And real.

That's all for now. I'll write more when I've read further. So far.....there are lot and lots of questions. And that's good.