Was Jesus A Nationalist?

For all the outpouring of Christian clergy praying/participating in Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities, you’d think one of them would have helped him get his theology and Scripture closer to right.  They didn’t.  As a result their pious words fell leaden on righteous ears.

In a bizarre nationalist twist that turns the Gospel of Jesus Christ on its head President Trump declared: ​

“At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.” 

So according to Trump, Jesus must have said something like:

“At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to Rome and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.”

But He didn’t. One translation of the Gospel of Matthew 22:36-40 reads:

“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

In truth, Jesus rejected the ways of Rome and confronted nationalist claims of his day with his radical message of love of God and neighbor.   For this He was crucified.

So the clergy, Roman Catholic Cardinal and Protestant Evangelicals alike, professionally steeped in the faith invoked by their prayers, prayed on approvingly as President Trump sought to transmogrify Jesus into a Nationalist in his own craven image.   

Frank C. Pierson, Jr.
Oracle, Arizona

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