Jamin Bradley

At church this morning, we sang songs about King Jesus and the backward kingdom he’s trying to bring to earth through the loving actions of his citizens. We’ve sung such themes a hundred times and I’ve preached such themes a thousand times, but today, such songs and messages feel different. In light of the White House posting a picture a few days ago claiming Trump to be king, church felt subversive as we claimed someone else as king. The Kingdom of Heaven felt subversive as we declared the way of the cross.

Christians should always feel this subversiveness, but after a decade of pastoring, I’ve observed an odd phenomenon in preaching: sermons mean very little until you make them specifically applicable. People will agree that we should care for the stranger among us until we specifically point out that an illegal immigrant is a stranger. People will agree that we should be pro-life until we try to abolish the death penalty. People will agree that we should love our enemies unless we’re helping Israel destroy Palestinians. People agree that Christ cares about elevating everyone, until we mention laws that care about diversity, equity, or inclusion. People agree we should turn the other cheek until we mention laying down our guns.

Many pastors believe they teach such principles weekly in their messages so Christians will naturally pursue such efforts when real-life scenarios beg for application. But Jesus knew that sometimes the message would not be realized until he was specific. (Loving your neighbor is all well and good until it’s a Samaritan.) We fear we’ll lose our congregants—the people we love and adore and live to serve—if we say such things. Jesus was fine with this dynamic, but we are not. And so we try to keep the gospel as unoffensive as possible, hoping to plant seeds of its subversiveness that will spring forth when the time calls for it. But when the time comes, we often discover that we weren’t clear, practical, and applicable enough.

If you feel your pastor has suddenly changed since Trump became president/king, you probably aren’t being hoodwinked. They likely were teaching such things the whole time, but now that their teachings have become applicable, it’s harder to see them as you once did. May we all have ears to hear (myself included) whatever Jesus says in this season.