America is not Heaven

In John 18:36 Jesus is quoted as saying, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

From the arrival of the Puritans onto the shores of the Northeast until today, American Christians have conflated America with God’s Promised Land. We envision a Christian nation blessed by God, set apart, a kind of new Jerusalem. Puritan John Winthrop suggested, “"We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us," reflecting Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:14.

These words have been incorporated by many politicians over the years in stump speeches.

• Ronald Reagan, who on the eve of his 1980 election said: “I believe that Americans in 1980 are every bit as committed to that vision of a shining "city on a hill," as were those long ago settlers ...”

• Barack Obama, in a 2006 speech in Boston, said, “As the earliest settlers arrived on the shores of Boston and Salem and Plymouth, they dreamed of building a City upon a Hill. And the world watched, waiting to see if this improbable idea called America would succeed.”

• Mitt Romney, in 2016, even used it to criticize then-candidate Donald Trump, saying, “His domestic policies would lead to recession; his foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president, and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.”

These are but a few examples of the way we have continued to think of America as God’s chosen nation.

Jesus, however, was not referring to American in Matthew 5:14. In fact, He wasn’t referring to a place at all, but to a people. Remember, this passage is part of the beatitudes. He was referring to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom that we were to pray would come to earth as it was in Heaven.

In fact, Jesus made it clear that His Kingdom was not of this world. My college New Testament Professor, Dr. Gilbert Bilzekian, suggested that perhaps the sin of Judas the betrayer was the belief that he could get Jesus to finally act as a revolutionary king by fostering a critical moment wherein Jesus had to finally act, and that was what motivated his betrayal. We certainly see whisperings of that in the garden when Peter draws a sword and cuts off Malchus’ ear. But in front of Pilate, Jesus makes it clear, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

As one who walks delicately between the strong convictions of those on the political right and the political left, those who believe in Jesus but do so from polar political positions, I am concerned sometimes when we conflate politics with the Kingdom of Heaven. This earth is not our home, we are sojourners in a foreign land. Our tendency to conflate politics with Kingdom principles is dangerous. Especially when our cultural and political perspectives color our Kingdom perspective. My friends on the Christian left see my friends on the Christian right as narrow minded bigots. My friends on the Christian right see my friends on the Christian left as anti-life, tree-hugging spendthrifts. And both sides teeter dangerously on the edge of seeking God’s Kingdom in a political process that is flawed and often ungodly.

America is not Christ’s Kingdom. Our political process cannot save us. Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world.