Fair enough. Neither Jesus nor His apostles held politics or gaining political power as their highest priority though (from the scriptures, it didn't even seem to rank in their top 10).
I have a lot of sympathy for what is in your post. However, I believe the uncomfortable truth is that Scripture teaches that Jesus is indeed the enthroned "political" leader of the world whether people accept it or not.
For example, through a cryptic statement made to Caiaphus, Jesus declares He will very shortly become King. Note what Jesus says to Caiaphus when the latter ask if He is “Christ” (this means “king”, although readers may dispute this):
"Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 62And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN."
The reference to sitting at the right hand of power comes from Psalm 110:
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand…”
The “coming with the clouds of heaven” statement is an allusion to this material from Daniel 7:
I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow
And the (O)hair of His head like pure wool
His (P)throne was ablaze with flames,
………
"I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.
From both these references, it is clear that Jesus intends Caiaphus to see Him (Jesus) in the role of the Son of Man figure who gets presented to the Ancient of Days (YHWH) and takes the other of the two thrones (note the multiplicity of thrones in the Daniel material).
Among the many rich implications of this passage we have this: In this scenario, YHWH gets seated (apart from what happens to the Son of Man figure). This is a clear allusion to the enthronement of YHWH, fulfilling the deeply held, and
scripturally sustained, Jewish expectation that YHWH will, at some point, become
King of all the world.
Is Jesus king over the earth? Yes - we have clear allusions to Jesus as one who, having already been seated, is
now ruling over all nations and peoples
.
And, I suggest, there are many other Biblical texts that teach, uncomfortable though it may be to accept, that Jesus is indeed a real "political" King. After all, in what sense would Jesus be a
king if he were only ruling over our "inner lives" and not over the way we structure and operate our larger society?
Now then, let me state the
obvious: even if we establish that Jesus is a true king and that we are called to participate in making that concrete in
all spheres of human activity (and I believe we are called to do so), there is a further question: what are the values that we want enshrined in public life?
I cannot answer that definitively but one thing is clear: they are not, for the most part at least, the values of the American evangelical right. And it is equally obvious that the last person one would reasonably say represents Christlikeness is one Donald J. Trump.
