Palm Sunday 2022
On January 6, 2020 hundreds of Donald Trump supporters broke into the capital building. The day was one of death and chaos. It was surreal watching a crowd of predominantly white people attack one of the symbols of the nation and be met with relatively little force. In contrast, Black Lives Matter protestors throughout the US are often met with tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tanks.
Additionally, while hundreds of people were arrested in the days and months after the Jan 6th resurrection, many have received relatively light sentences. Contrast this to the harsh prison sentences Black and brown people receive for minor infractions. Not to mention the death sentences Black and brown people receive at the hands of American police for simply daring to exist.
The relatively benign response to the Jan 6th rioters in contrast to the violent repression of Black Lives Matter demonstrates that there are two Americas both tied together under the banners of Emperor Jesus and white supremacy. There’s the America that coddles white terrorists. That even when they threaten to tear down American democracy, they are given the benefit of the doubt. Here, the lofty ideals of liberty, justice, and equality are upheld and deemed to be sacred.
Then there’s the other America: the one that allows law enforcement to murder Black and brown people at will. One whose lofty ideals of liberty and justice are forsaken and ignored because well, Black and brown people aren’t viewed as humans. These two Americas are held together by white supremacy and by a false image of Jesus. After all, in the US one can’t separate white supremacy from Christianity.
The Jesus worshiped by White American society more closely resembles the Emperor of Roman society, than the Jesus that came to Jerusalem on a donkey. The white Church in the United States has taken the Jesus who rode to Jerusalem on a colt, bringing a message of nonviolence and proclaiming God’s kingdom and turned this Jesus into a mighty, fearful warrior, who instead of calling for the overthrow of the Empire, serves it. For this Jesus, God and the Empire are one.
In contrast, Luke portrays a Jesus whose entire ministry, including the “triumphal” entry to Jerusalem serves as a stark rebuke to the powers of Empire and domination. Jesus, though praised by the crowd of disciples as King, represents a different kind of kingdom. One that rejects the regality and show of force of the Empire.
The Jesus of the gospels is not the God that would side with the insurrections on Jan 6th or with murderous cops. The Jesus of the gospels not only calls for nonviolence but also ushers in a new Kingdom of justice that replaces the one of violence and oppression. Jesus’s kingdom rejects white supremacy. It calls for followers of the Empire to wake up, repent, and serve God.
Note: Things in my personal life are difficult right now. I hope to write two short blog posts, one for Good Friday and one for Easter Sunday and take a break from blogging until things settle down. I would still update my social media because those posts tend to take less time to craft.
Here are my socials:
Twitter: @faithfullyradi1
Facebook: FaithfullyRadicalChristian
Instagram: FaithfullyRadicalChristian
