Rendering to Caesar. Jesus on politics and the kingdom that is within
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- I've been thinking about politics and disillusionment that seems most characteristic of now, in the West at least, and thinking about the prepolitcal - what politics needs to work well.
I've thought about Plato on beauty and Aristotle on ethics in previous posts.
Now a third guide, Jesus on... which isn't immediately easy to say. And that's the point.
Some would say that Jesus and politics is easy to define.
- a preference for the poor
- the prosperity gospel
- or Christian exceptionalism and oppressive regimes.
But the heart of Jesus and politics is not in practical policies or polities, I believe. He was in the world but not of the world. He stood for something more than was immediately obvious or practical He constantly acted so as to respond to the moment but so as to allow more to come in.
That was why he talked of the kingdom that is near, revising apocalyptic expectations and ushering the transformation of the self.
I mentioned David Lloyd Dusenbury's book, I Judge No One - see here www.hurstpubli...
And my book, A Secret History of Christianity - see here www.markvernon...
thank you......these things you say drew me to Christianity but I must say I never found a place in any Church. My inspiration has been the Kingdom Within that Jesus the Christ spoke of. Here is where I am nurtured and here I return again and again finding communion and Love. Let me not forget guidance that allows me to live in the World that expresses so much confusion and chaos. Thank you Msrk Vernon
Sympathy with the church ambivalence...
I grew up in a liberal, new agey Christian church. Technically, it was New Thought that developed out of radical 19th century evangelicalism. The theology I was taught had more to do with the Kingdom Within.
But as an adult, I'm more drawn to Jesus' message of the Kingdom Without (i.e., the Kingdom of God all around us). It's not the worldly religiosity of politcized culture war of the far right. Rather, it's recognizing we have misunderstood the world we are in.
I really totally Love your perspective but mine differs ever so slightly and I would like to share it with you. I agree fully on the change being inner before it is outer however it’s hard to imagine that Christ would want us to contribute financially to genocide and tyranny. Here in America, at least, we spend trillions of tax dollars on such nonsense. The way I reconcile this is that I believe that when he says “render what is Caesar’s to Caesar” he is speaking on currency as a whole rather than just “pay your taxes.” I think he is saying that all money belongs to Caesar and is worthless to God so to cling to it so tightly that you break the law (evade taxes) to avoid forking it over to Caesar would be a disservice to God. Full disclosure I was a radical anarchist before I was a Christian so I may be biased in my interpretation. Anyway, I Love your videos keep it up brother and God bless you 🤍
I agree with you. Rendering coins back to Caesar who coined them is simply a tricksy way of saying the monetary system has no value other than, as some understand it today, what is socially constructed. It wasn't submitting to Caesar's power but to subtly imply that the Caesar himself was meaningless and irrelevant. Money that was nothing was rendered to Cesar who was nothing. Real value and reality itself was to be found elsewhere. People get fooled by Jesus' language because he so often refused to state things directly. He left to others to understand or not, depending on whether or not they had ears to hear.
Really enjoy your videos. Extremely enlightening in these hectic times. Still confused over this concept of the kingdom within in. Is this related to theosis? Also why is it either/or? Can we not focus on the kingdom within and also have a second coming?
I agree that the kingdom of god is with us now. I Think it is overlapping all times and locations similar to how god is always present. It may be accessed from our world or vice versa. And thus you may unlock it's benefits while still in your mortal body gaining a sort of blessed existence on earth.
Thank you 🙏🏼
Briefly.. & somehow very fleetingly.. The Kingdom is here, when I Am…
But quips aside I really appreciate your deep understanding & thought..