Was Jesus a Democrat or a Republican? (Wrong Question.)

Every few months, a headline reminds us this argument isn't going away.

In April, the White House's new Religious Liberty Commission all but declared war on a phrase most of us learned in grade school. Its chairman, Dan Patrick (not the former ESPN dude; the Lieutenant Governor of Texas dude), called the separation of church and state "the biggest lie that's been told in America since our founding." Depending on your feed, that sounded like either long-overdue courage or a five-alarm fire.

Then in May, thousands gathered on the National Mall for a "Rededicate 250" prayer event, tying America's 250th birthday to a specific vision of the country as fundamentally Christian. Watching it unfold, evangelical writer Russell Moore responded: "America deserves a better gospel than this" and confessed he was repenting of his own past associations with Christian nationalism.

Two Christians. Two headlines. Two completely different instincts about what it means to be faithful in a country like ours. I don't think either side has cornered Jesus. And I don't think Jesus is nearly as interested in this fight as we are.

Here's what I keep coming back to. In Mark 12, some religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a loaded political question: should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? Say yes, and he's a Roman sellout. Say no, and Rome executes him for treason. Jesus asks for a coin, points to Caesar's face stamped on it, and says: "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." He doesn't dodge the question. He reframes it. The coin belongs to the empire. You don't. Your soul, your conscience, your worship were never Caesar's to claim no matter which Caesar happens to be in office.

Later, standing in front of Pilate with his life on the line, Jesus says it even more plainly: "My kingdom is not of this world." Not "I have no kingdom." Just: it doesn't run on the rules we're used to. It doesn't spread through legislation, campaigns, or force. Every time a crowd tried to hand him political power even the time they tried to crown him king by force after he fed five thousand people he walked away.

That pattern is why I don't think Dan Patrick's vision or a purely secular one fully captures what Jesus was doing. A faith that needs the state's power to survive has already traded away something essential. So has a faith that's forgotten it has anything to say to the state at all.

Peter, writing to Christians who had far more reason to fight back than we do, gave this instruction instead: "Live such good lives among the people that... they may see your good deeds and glorify God." Not: win the argument. Just: live in a way that makes its own case.
I don't have a clever conclusion here, and I'm suspicious of anyone who does. But I think the real question isn't "which side is right." It's the one Pilate actually asked Jesus: what kind of king are you?

A few questions worth sitting with:

1. Where have I let a political identity quietly become my primary identity, ahead of following Jesus?
2. When I hear "Christian nation" or "separation of church and state," what am I actually reacting to — Scripture, or the last thing I scrolled past?
3. What would it look like this week to let my life, not my opinions, make the argument for me?

For more on this topic, listen to episode 202 of the All Saints Podcast...