"Jesus For President"

Jesus For President - Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw

In regard to Christian politics, some might say,"Sure, my citizenship is ultimately in heaven, but I have to live in the 'real world' now." In other words, acting heavenly on earth is too risky; or, Jesus was the Son of God, but he was not realistic; or, following the Sermon on the Mount will not work on earth, so it will have to suffice in heaven. This interpretation basically comes to mean that citizenship in heaven means nothing in the real world. Believers are then left with participating in the normal patterns of citizenship, with exploitive economy and violent militarism among its sins.

But, the problem is that Jesus' kingdom (and Paul's "citizenship in heaven") was about the real world, here and now. It was about allegiance. Jesus and Paul were telling the people that they must live here with their identities as aliens. They must live by the rules of heaven amid the violent earthly powers. And to claim that one's citizenship is in heaven is to say that you pledge allegiance not to any of the kingdoms of the world but to Jesus and the body of those who take on his suffering, enemy-loving posture toward the world. This is what Peter meant when he called the church a "holy nation, a people set apart". a people who are supposed to live as "aliens and strangers in this land.