Longing for a Better Country

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  People who say [admit] such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.  (Hebrews 11:13-16, NIV)

Longing for a better country

As Christians in the USA listen to political rhetoric prior to national elections, it is amazing to many of us that the "religious right" is viewed as somehow representing Christianity.  That followers of Jesus might have a genuine say in politics is a concept foreign to the New Testament and, in many ways, contradictory to the New Testament teachings.  

The New Testament attitude about politics is not surprising.  The New Testament was written during the powerful days of the Roman Empire.  There is no hint that that empire might someday call itself "Christian" and that, indeed, some nations might someday use the paradoxical term "Christian nation."  If there is any overriding New Testament view of the thrust of world politics, it shows up in apocalyptic view of Revelations, in which that nations of the earth all rise against the Creator of the Universe, who then sets up a new nation, a new heaven and a new earth, with a new Jerusalem at its center.  In that vision, no good attribute is given to any nation state; all nations are oppressive and in opposition to God's universal kingdom.

Without getting bogged down in the US politics of the 21st century, it would be beneficial for Christians in this country (my home, the USA) to step back and stay an objective look at the Christian view of politics and statehood as described in the New Testament.  In addition to the wild book of Revelations, there are a number of other places where "citizenship status" is discussed.  The Hebrews 11 chapter on faith (a portion give above) is permeated by the claim that followers of God are "strangers and aliens" on earth.  But the clearest political description of Christians, those who are followers of the Kingdom of God, is given by Paul in his second letter to the Corinthian church.  There (in II Cor 5:16-21) the metaphor for Christian action is as a foreign ambassador, visiting one kingdom from another.

From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Ambassador to an alien country

I find the ambassador metaphor the most useful and practical. Imagine that you are assigned by your government to be an ambassador to a foreign country.  Maybe you are an American assigned to be ambassador to Russia.  How would you behave in Moscow?  In many ways you might seek to integrate with and join in the local culture.  You would learn Russian. You might attend parties and receptions, make friends.  (There is even a "trick" to drinking vodka at Russian parties, so that you appear to be an enthusiastic member of the crowd while not drinking too much.  See this StackExchange discussion.)  But still, as ambassador from the USA to Russia, you would remember your roots and your loyalties.  You would always be seeking to promote the interests of your home country among the foreign host.  You might play soccer or ice hockey with locals.  Watch movies in Russian and shop at the local market.  But your heart is still back in your home country.  You would not serve in the Russian military or salute the Russian flag or betray the interests of your home country.  In all these ways you would hope to be a contagious influence, never threatening, never bullying, but also never forgetting your mission.

In the same way, the follower of Jesus seeks to be an ambassador for the "kingdom of God" (to use a term Jesus himself used.)  As an ambassador from that kingdom to the strange alien kingdom of earth (and yes, the very foreign kingdom of the USA), I should try to speak the local language, care for neighbors, make friends. (I have many good friends!)  But all along I am aware that this USA is a strange country and I shouldn't forget my allegiance. 

In that sense, as a Christian, I am no more American than the American ambassador to Moscow is Russian.  

The Robe and a Cosmic Cowboy

Sometime ago, after deciding I wanted to be a Christ-follower, I read The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.  That novel is an exploration of what might have happened to the Roman centurion who crucified Jesus.  The main character, the centurion, Marcellus, traces Jesus's life story and so eventually become a follower of Jesus.  In that journey, he learns to deal with the tension between his new kingdom (one of love, compassion and peace) and the old kingdom, the Roman empire.  At the end, he and his young bride, Diana, refuse to worship Caligula and are sent off to execution.  Yes, it is a work of fiction -- but it captures (in my mind) the transcendence of culture, race and national boundaries, that is embedded in the teachings of Jesus.  (I've not seen the movie, starring Richard Burton.  The movie must lose a bit of the power of the original novel....)

Later in my journey as a Christ-follower, I had a casette tape with a Barry McGuire song about a cosmic cowboy.  It is a fitting place to end this post, quoting Barry McGuire:

"I met a Cosmic Cowboy, riding a starry range.

He's a supernatural plowboy.  He's dressed up kinda strange."

The narrator eventually gets to see all creation laid out before him.  In typical "cowboy" imagery,

"I was looking through his eyes, right into another land.

He said, 'This is my Father's ranch as far as you can see.

He made it out of nothing, every branch, every tree.

The stars, all the mountains, the rivers, the streams,

the oceans, the valley of your dreams.  

I know that place you're looking for, that place you long to be

Truth is, I'm the only door.  You're gonna have to pass through me.' "

Yes, I live in a beautiful country. I have many wonderful American friends.  
I hope, as an ambassador, I can help out a little in my neighborhood.
But American is not the place I'm longing for.  That is a different country.