Our nation and our world are socially, emotionally, and spiritually fractured. We have a virus that has spread worldwide. Media outlets, politicians, and religious leaders are seeking to make sense of it all. Then out of the Pacific, came the murder hornets, trying to add another layer of panic and confusion. And most recently, a senseless act of police brutality that has our whole nation in an uproar. Are all of these just isolated incidents or are they all connected? How do we reconcile it, or more importantly, how do we solve it? The answer is both simple and complex, containing a simple solution that must work through every facet of our very complicated current condition.
At the height of their empire, the Romans had a phrase the emperors spread through the subjects: Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome. This was a mentality instilled in the people that their rulers were bringing peace through a system. Regardless of how you view the shutdowns we’re facing, or your opinions on the pace at which our country is reopening, I want to caution against some pitfalls we need to avoid, and hopefully provide some clarity on how we as believers need to lead the charge in the coming days.
The Pax Romana is a Fake Peace
In the infamous words of President Ronald Reagan, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” This is a sad statement that is all too true. When the state becomes our safety net, our provider, and our protector, we sacrifice our life, freedom, and future on an altar of security. The apostle Paul says that the state is a servant of God for this purpose: to punish evildoers. They are not allowed to wield the sword in vain. The sword that cuts the hand off of a thief is the same sword who beheads the murderer. The punishment of the wicked is supposed to be quick, decisive, and most importantly, just. In other words, the punishment is meant to fit the crime. Beheading a thief while amputating a murderer is not justice, it is the opposite. When acts of injustice happen at the hands of government officials, it is warranted to be outraged, why? Because that is not justice. God loves justice, because God is just. Justice has no meaning outside of God.
Here is where our current state of affairs comes into focus. Where do we turn when things go wrong? It is the state that got us into this mess and when society blows up in outrage, it is to the state we turn to ask for help. This is like a toddler spilling a large cup of grape juice on your newly laid white carpet. The toddler looks up at mommy and says, “I’ll fix it.” That three year old proceeds to bend down and try to wipe the juice with their bare hand while still holding the cup with the remainder of juice; as they bend down, not only are they not going to clean the stain with their hand, they are making the problem worse when more juice pours out of the tipped cup in their hands. More laws, better training of law enforcement, prison reform, or better judges are not going to fix the problem. Why? Because the heart of the problem has yet to be addressed. The heart of the problem is the heart of man. We love our country more than we love our Heavenly Father. We love our social programs more than our Savior. We love our hashtags more than the Holy Spirit. The answer is simply, Jesus. Yes, it really is that simple. As I said at the outset, it does not mean the process will be simple because we have gotten ourselves into a multifaceted tangled mess. But as they say in Sunday School, the answer is always, “Jesus.”
More Than a Sunday School Answer
In the early days of Jesus’ public ministry, he opened the scroll of Isaiah at a synagogue in Galilee and read these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19). Upon reading this, tells his listeners “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” It was Christ’s life that liberates captives. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is freedom.
Why is our society crumbling before our eyes? Because the Gospel is absent from our public square, our pulpits, and our dinner-table conversation. The Gospel is now only something we talk about sometimes in church, it has no effect on how we ring up our groceries, how we do our jobs, how we comment on facebook or how we drive our cars. Riots and injustice are rampant because Pax Romana is our gospel. When you look to Capitol Hill to fix your social problems, we turn our back on Calvary’s Hill. Our Savior came to release burdens, set free the captive and liberate the oppressed. To borrow the image of today, he comes to get the knee of tyranny off our neck, not only so we can breathe, but so we can have abundant life. Where the heavy hand of the state falls, Jesus bears that burden. R.J. Rushdoony, “The goodness of God is this: that the government is upon His Shoulders, that all things are in His hands and he does all things well.” Indeed he does, for Isaiah said the government is upon his shoulders, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:6).
The only hope to remedy injustice is to level justice. God is a gracious God, yes, but grace is empty if justice does not exist. So, be rest assured justice will be served in due course. And remember, the death of Jesus Christ is the most unjust thing that has ever happened. It was the righteous suffering on behalf of the unrighteous, yet he did it willingly. He was beaten, scourged, and oppressed. He died an excruciating death under the sentence of false accusations. He bore a heavy cross as our burden lifter. Jesus came promising life, the response of the religious leaders was “Death!” They said this man must die so the nation can live, “And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52). Justice for wicked nations was dealt to the brow, crowned with thorns, dying as the King of the Jews. In glorious mercy and grace, he rose again from the dead, King of kings and Lord of lords. “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah” (Psalm 68:18-19). What marvelous news for such treacherous times! Because he rose, the captives are free, because he lives, the oppressed can lift their head.
My charge to my reader in all of this I hope would echo the words of Holy Scripture, in your outrage over the injustice of our time, do not sin. If Jesus is Lord (and he is) then we are free. We are free not because of our skin color, culture, political party, or residency. We are free because Jesus is Lord. Therefore we must do away with the pointing of fingers and malicious talk. Let us spend ourselves on behalf of the afflicted. Why? Because Jesus is Lord and this is the pattern he demands of his servants. So, when you see things deteriorating before your eyes, do not despair, for that is to turn your back on God. Instead, cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you. When you speak against these injustices, may it be with Gospel clarity. Do not taint your words with false hope of a false peace. Speak of him who raised Jesus from the dead. Let us build up the old wasteplaces and repair the breach. And may God our Father guide us continually. Amen.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8
