From “American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays The Gospel and Threatens The Church” by Andrew L. Whitehead
What is the way of Jesus? Mark 10:35-45 provides one poignant example. Two of Jesus’s disciples, James and John, ask Jesus to place them in positions of honor and power when he comes into his “glory.” At this point in the narrative, the disciples still assume that the culmination of Jesus’s work will be Israel’s reestablishment as a sovereign nation. They believe Jesus is there to set up an earthly kingdom no longer under the oppressive rule of the Romans.
James and John want to be near the throne of power. We can’t blame them for making this rather audacious request. They imagine an Israel that, in the words of Trump, “will have power.” The seductive nature of power is strong. Jesus takes this moment to instruct them on how they have it all backward. Following him will not lead to positions in which we execute self-interested power. Rather, he tells his disciples, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).
Here Jesus is encouraging his disciples to reject the opportunity to wield power over others. Rather, we exercise kingdom power when we serve our neighbors and even our enemies. We exercise kingdom power when we stand with the marginalized and demand that those in power use it to benefit the least in society rather than the rich, powerful, or well-connected. We look like Jesus when we leverage whatever earthly privilege, power, or prestige we have in service to others. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. This posture toward power does not fit with white Christian nationalism. We cannot quest for political power to protect our self-interest while living out Jesus’s example of turning down access to earthly kingdom power and living a life of service and sacrifice for others. We cannot know the Jesus of the Gospels, “the bicultural, border-crossing, Brown Jesus, the one born in a stable, rejected in his hometown, tortured, broken, and nattered,” without prioritizing and “centering the voices of “the marginalized.