"Caesar or Jesus?"
Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly, Westmoreland UCC
April 13, 2025
In words that describe the tension between love and power in the Christian tradition, Alfred North Whitehead, one of the greatest philosophers of our time, notes:
When the Western world accepted Christianity, Caesar conquered… The brief Galilean vision of humility flickered throughout the ages, uncertainly. In the official formation of the religion, it has assumed the trivial form of the mere attribution to the Jews that they cherished a misconception about their Messiah. But the deeper idolatry, of the fashioning of God in the image of the Egyptian, Persian, and Roman imperial rulers was retained. The Church gave unto God the attributes which belonged exclusively to Caesar.
One of the great tragedies of Christianity, then and now, has been our tradition’s abandoning the power of love in favor of the love of power. From the fourth century onward, when Constantine marched into Rome with the Christian flag of conquest, Christian leaders have sought to so secure Christianity’s dominance over Western civilization and then the planet, Christian leaders traded the intimate and relational love of a personal and empathetic God for the unilateral and coercive power of a distant and demanding God. Fueled by the quest for power and compelled by dogmatic certainty, sure that God was their side, the persecuted faith of the early church became the persecuting faith of the Holy Roman Empire and then the colonizing nations of the West. The open-spirited faith of Jesus was reduced to closed minded dogma and the denial of the beauty of other cultures and their traditions.
Jesus’ power of love was exchanged for the love of power, embodied in inquisition, heresy hunting, crusade, colonization, imperialism, nationalism, America’s original sin of slavery, and today’s authoritarian politics in which Christians in the political realm believe that further marginalizing the LGBTQ+ community, strangers on our soil, and the impact of women and other cultures will secure their dominance in the United States. That is a house built on shifting sands: you may gain political power and feel good about saying Merry Christmas but the Christianity of Caesar is losing the hearts of spiritual seekers and even members of the Christian community, who are choosing to follow Jesus rather than those who claim to be his political surrogates.
One of my teachers, Bernard Loomer describes this tension in the difference between unilateral and relational power. Unilateral power is reflected in “my way or the highway,” in “retribution,” “bullying,” and acting without listening, and silencing the voices of dissent. Relational power listens, empathizes, connects, and makes decisions, even tough decisions in business, personal life, and government, grounded in world loyalty and healing rather than self-interest and destruction.
Remember Jesus’ words to a sight impaired man, “what do you want me to do for you?” Following Jesus means more creativity and freedom in the light of the common good, and not repression or suppression or obedience to satisfy the lust for power of church leaders and politicians.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble colt. He had no honor guard, no Roman legion, no signs of political or military power, just everyday people shouting “Hosanna,” in recognition of the spiritual energy of love that radiated from him. Powerless compared to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and the Great Caeser, Jesus wielded the only power that endures, the “weak” power of love, like gravity, which is so great that even the stones will cry out if we try to suppress it.
Twenty-five years after Palm Sunday, Paul counseled the small community in Philippi to embrace the power of love rather than the love of power. Listen again:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
When the Philippians heard Paul’s words, two images came to mind, King Caesar and Lord Jesus. Caesar’s power was grounded in violence and coercion. You worshipped Caesar not out of love or even respect, but to avoid punishment, death, and retribution. That’s the power of Caesar throughout the ages: winning by intimidation and bullying, threatening retribution, telling those who step out of line that they will lose their jobs or face opposition in the primary elections. The power of going it alone and thumbing our nose at everyone else. Authoritarian deities, religions, and authoritarian politicians who think they are gods cannot tolerate dissent or diversity. Difference is a threat: just think of all the energy conservative Christians and the politicians manipulating them are exerting to marginalize the less than 1% of the population who identify as transgender. How frightening transgender and gay and lesbian people are to those who hold traditional Christian values, even though there is no threat! A frightened faith is a weak faith. A loving faith is a strong faith.
Today, our calling is to choose Jesus and not Caesar. We need spiritually strong Christians for just a time as now. Caesar, by whatever name you call him, believes that in the art of the deal, winning is not just everything, it is the only thing, and that applies to God, God’s people, and American greatness. Even if you have to destroy the planet in a Second Coming or put the nation in chaos to settle the score with imagined opponents!
I recall a scene from Kate’s closest relative’s wedding rehearsal, some forty years ago. One of the groomsmen related his decision to accept Jesus as his savior to the white shoed pastor who was performing the wedding. He confessed, “I accepted Jesus so I wouldn’t go to hell, the rest is a bonus.” For over four decades that conversation has haunted me. A God so brittle, so small spirited, so vindictive, and in need of ego affirmation that he is willing to punish persons with eternal damnation for not entering a doctrinal transaction.
A few years later, I recall a student at Georgetown relating, “My parents are good people but because they haven’t accepted Jesus, they’re going to hell, just like Buddha and Gandhi.” Now, at one time or another, every teenager wants to tell their parent to “go to hell,” but she took it to the limit!
Paul affirms another kind of power to describe God and the values we should follow in our households and relationships whether as citizens or professionals. “Have the mind of Jesus…who rules by sacrifice, empathy, relationship, and love. Who reaches out beyond borders to embrace and sees power in terms of supporting rather defeating others.” We bow down to Caesar out of fear, but when it comes to Jesus, every knee – every knee, all of us, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, seekers, agnostics, and even atheists – yes, every knee will bow out of love and gratitude for “amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I’m found, but blind but now I see.”
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan suggest that there were two parades on that first Palm Sunday. During Passover, the population of Jerusalem swelled from 200,000 to 400,000, a time of celebration but also potential threat to Roman occupation. At one of the gates of the city, Jesus entered on a colt, a donkey, a symbol of peace, greeted palms and praises. At the other side of the city, Pilate entered by another: desiring to make of a show of force to tamp down any threat of revolt, the governor was accompanied by “cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold.” There was Jesus whose name rings out over the ages and Pilate known only as a conflicted power monger.
In which parade do you want to find yourself?
Today, we are given the same choice: Jesus or Caesar. Love or hate, reconciliation or retribution, power of love or the love of power, life or death. As weak as the power of love may seem in these days of prevaricating and pompous potentates, love is so strong that even the stones will cry out if we try to silence it: it is the love of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Howard Thurman, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ruby Bridges, and Desmond Tutu. The love that endures while potentates come and go: the love that casts out all fear, heals the sick, and gives hope to the hopeless, the love that faces the cross, knowing that beyond the cross is the crown of justice, peace, and shalom.
Have this mind – the mind of Christ, the spirit of Christ. Apparently so weak to demagogues and dictators, but the only spirit that matters – the spirit of love – so great in its power to heal and transform that even the stones cry out! Thank you Jesus! Glory hallelujah!
