I can’t find any politicking or anything political in a societal sense in the New Testament yet I read people writing about how Jesus was political. Maybe their definition of political is different than mine.

Here is part of the description of David Black’s (yes, our dear Greek professor and blogger friend) book, Christian Archy.

In Christian Archy, Dr. David Alan Black examines the New Testament to find the truly radical and all-encompassing claims of God’s kingdom. In doing so, he discovers that the character of this kingdom is widely different from what is commonly contemplated today. Its glory is revealed only through suffering[—]a point that Jesus’ disciples, then and now, have been slow to understand. This truth has tremendous implications for church life. The kingdom of God is in no way imperialistic. It has no political ambitions. It conquers not by force but by love. It is this humble characteristic of the kingdom that is a stumbling block to so many today. Christ’s claim to our total allegiance is one we seek to avoid at all costs. But there is only one way to victory and peace, and that is the way of the Lamb.

The tragedy is that American Christianity has so closely allied itself with the government of the day that the transcendent Gospel has become submerged in the world’s values.

–David Alan Black, The Jesus Paradigm by pg. 66

Quoted in TC’s review of the book.

I hate politics. (That’s not Black’s point though.)

There is little evidence in the way Christians live to support our claim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Rather, the evidence would suggest that, in most churches, the culture of economic, political and military systems of the United States (or Australia or Britain etc.) is at hand. The question must be asked why the churches do not live by their confession.

–Jim Wallis (January, 1980), “Rebuilding the Church”, Sojourners, 9:1, page 10

Matthew 10:7
As you go, announce this: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

See Brian Lilly’s posts:

• Surprised by the Kingdom of God I – If the Kingdom of God is here, why are the Romans still here also?
• Surprised by the Kingdom of God II – What’s politics got to do with it? (Got to do with it?)