nope: a resistance perspective
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” Romans 13:1
We had a spirited debate in our Bible study before the US election. The passage that begins with these words from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome was brought up as a comfort if we see an election not going the way we wished that it had. The proposition was that since there is “no authority except that which God has established”, we should accept that the person that is elected was placed there by God.
I expressed my struggle with that interpretation of this scripture. I think that we should obey law and authority, in general. God desires order, and has established the idea of government for the orderly operation of community. But to say that each and every person elected was placed there by God, or is God’s choice, ignores the participation of human beings with their own individual biases and agendas. In America we vote every two years for congressional leaders, every four years for a president, every six years for our senators. That puts the government squarely in our hands, and God will have to work within the limitations of OUR choices, much as he did when Israel begged the prophet Samuel for a king. Samuel admonished the people, “this will be the manner of the king that shall rule over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen….” He warned that a king would take their daughters, their fields and vineyards, and a tenth of all their crops and flocks. But the people refused to listen, and God told Samuel that the people had rejected the kingship of the Lord, so Samuel should give them what they wanted. God would go on working IN SPITE of their rotten bargain.
Furthermore, to give the interpretation that every earthly leader is put there by God is a horribly offensive thing to say to a Jew who lost an ancestor in the Holocaust, or to black people in South Africa who were subjected to Apartheid. To say it today about any number of places around the world like Venezuela, Afghanistan, China, North Korea and Russia where dictators rule, is an offense. This interpretation doesn’t even work in our own history, for the creation of the United States of America was born of rebellion against the “divine right” of King George.
Paul’s words in his letter to the Romans cannot mean blithe capitulation to ANY authority, no matter how authoritarian. Paul, in writing these words to the Roman church was reiterating the words of Jesus, who said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”. We give to THE GOVERNMENT, which in ancient Rome WAS Caesar, what is due to make government run smoothly. But we do not bow down or give our hearts to ANY leader, just or unjust, as though they were placed there by God. No, we VOTE for our leaders. When the majority speaks, we accept the outcome. And if we disagree with that outcome, we speak out LOUDLY and work as hard as possible, within legal means, to bring about change that conforms to the Gospel message calling us to love our neighbors and our enemies and to care for the widows and sojourners in our land.
It’s called civil disobedience, and we have such examples as Martin Luther King Jr., Alexei Navalny, Corrie Ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In his devotional book On This Day Robert J. Morgan wrote: “Bonhoeffer tried to reform the German church, but he came of age during the days of Adolf Hitler, who duped most German churchmen. ‘It is because of Hitler that Christ has become effective among us,’ said one minister. ‘National Socialism is positive Christianity in action.’” Bonhoeffer emphatically said, “NOPE!”
In July, when the Republican presidential candidate said, “My beautiful Christians…in four more years you don’t have to vote, we’ll have it fixed so good,” the echoes of a cult leader chilled me to the bone. I am not and never will be his “beautiful Christian.” NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!
I will “pledge allegiance to the flag and to the republic for which it stands.” I do not pledge allegiance to the President of the United States. I pay my taxes, I obey the laws, I work to get unjust laws changed, and I speak freely. But I will first and foremost, ever and always be Jesus Christ’s, and follow him, not this president-elect. Seeing him elected gives me no comfort whatsoever.
Respectfully,
Liz
“I still believe in God and I am still a Catholic and there is an enormous amount about Catholicism that I don’t believe and am appalled by. I am still an American and there is an enormous amount about being an American that I don’t believe in and that I am appalled by…but I am those things, and there are about all of those things parts that I love and I am proud of. What matters is that we do our best with the life that we have…that we try to be as aware as is humanly possible of the life and the gift that we’re given. And to help other people wherever we can.” Ann Patchett
