No Easy Alliance
February 16, 2025
Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.”
–Luke 6:20
There is no easy alliance between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ,
and he will reign forever and ever.
–Revelation 11:15
There is no easy alliance between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God, and all attempts to create an easy alliance between these two kingdoms are misguided and doomed to failure.
The kingdom of the world is founded on greed and war—Mammon and Mars. The kingdom of God is founded on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, these two kingdoms are organized around irreconcilable values.
The kingdom of the world values economic power and military might, while the kingdom of God values co-suffering love and divine mercy.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for
that is what their ancestors did to the false
prophets.
–Jesus (Luke 6:26)
I raise the nation up to God [i.e. to divine status]. Has it ever been otherwise? The nation is the body of God. Any nation is a nation only as long as it has its own particular God and rules out all other gods in the world with no conciliation. It believes that through its God it will be victorious and will drive all other gods from the world. A truly great nation can never be reconciled with a secondary role in mankind, or even a primary, but inevitably and exclusively with the first.
–Fyodor Dostoevsky, Demons
Lord Jesus, I know that when you call me to follow you, you call me away from the world as it is—a world devoted to Mars and Mammon, and a world with which, much of the time, I am far too comfortable. And so I pray, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, but challenge me; have mercy on me, but tell me the truth; have mercy on me, but don’t allow me to become comfortable with a corrupt world under the sway of the wicked one. I want to follow you, Jesus—please help me to be faithful. Amen.