Abstract
During the twenty years Carol and I were PC(USA) mission coworkers seconded to the United Church of Christ in Japan (Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan), the largest Protestant denomination in Japan, comprising mainly former Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational, and Methodist churches, we had many invitations during home assignments in the United States to speak at supporting churches. I had worked in Japan with colleagues and students in Christian colleges, seminaries, and congregations, where bitter memories were still fresh of the nearly wholesale support—including among Christians and other religious groups—for their wartime militarist government and its expansionist and colonialist policies across Asia and the Pacific.
Because of close friendships with Japanese coworkers, many of whom were also sisters and brothers in Christ, I became sensitized to what I have come to see as an enduring issue for those engaged in cross-cultural, transnational Christian mission and one to which I had given little thought before first going to Japan as a twenty-six-year-old. I refer to the perennial question of the relative loyalty Christians owe to Caesar and to God.
Whenever I spoke in one of our supporting churches during home assignments, I would notice the presence or absence of an American flag in the sanctuary. Being by nature and calling more of a teacher than a prophet, whenever I saw the flag I would interject the following statement in my sermon, moment for mission, or adult education presentation: “Japanese Christians never place their national flag in the church.” Of course, I meant to provoke a response. Sometimes no one took my bait. In other cases, this comment engendered a range of outcomes, from thoughtful conversations about nationalism and faith to awkward exchanges with folks who questioned my love for my country.
I learned a lot from these visits and interactions. I realized, for example, that some US churches opt to display the American flag and others do not. I also noticed that, in most churches where the flag is displayed, there is also another flag, the so-called Christian flag, typically placed next to the American flag. The Christian flag originated in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century as an ecumenical symbol of unity, and it is also red, white, and blue. Its red Latin cross is set against a blue field, symbolizing the blood of the cross and the glory of heaven (sky), which is in turn set into the larger white background, symbolizing peace and purity. Having grown up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance daily, I never really worried about this common pairing of national and religious banners before working in Japan, but ever since it has made me uncomfortable.
The American Prohibition Flag is a version of the 48-star US flag with Christian symbolism. It was promoted in relation to the US Prohibition Party, ca. 1915. (Source: T. P. Flag Co., Pittsburgh, PA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Prohibition_Flag_design_ca_1915.svg.)
One Fourth of July I was asked to preach in chapel at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, where I was professor of practical theology from 1995 to 2008. I chose Mark 12:13–17 as my text and “Caesar and God” as my title. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 17 KJV).
There has been much ink spilt over these words of Jesus. How did the original hearers understand Jesus’s meaning? What might these words have meant for Christians in the United States who cheered or booed as the divided Senate recently voted not to remove the impeached president from office?
Obviously, the political context in which Jesus lived was very different from ours. In AD 6 the occupying Roman government had imposed the tax Mark mentions here on the people of Palestine. We learn from Josephus that this tax had led to a revolt by a certain zealot called Judas of Galilee. While that revolt was quickly quashed, the memory of it remained an inspiration for later patriots. So the motive of the Pharisees and Herodians who were sent to Jesus was patently political. They wanted to trap Jesus by seeking an answer to the question of where he came down on the anti-Roman “Zealot ideology.” Their trap begins with flattery and then moves to the real question: “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” (Mark 12:14 KJV).
But Jesus refuses to take their bait, offering an ambiguous, koan-like response that turns the loyalty question back onto his interlocutors: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The Pharisees and Herodians are amazed at his answer and have nothing more to say.
Our country is not the only place where loyalty to a monarch, prime minister, or president and commitment to a crucified and risen Lord and Savior often come into conflict. But in the United States today, it seems that the old virtue of patriotism, which is a love for country that still has room for self-criticism and generosity toward others, is giving way to a new form of “reality TV” or “talk radio” nationalism, which replaces love with loyalty, eschews self-criticism, and denigrates every real or perceived adversary. I rejoiced when Mark Galli, retired editor of Christianity Today, spoke out in his December 19, 2019, editorial about the danger of a president who has successfully marketed this new brand of nationalism to so many evangelicals. But when I observe that 35–40 percent of the voting public remains fiercely loyal to a businessman who seems willing to tell them whatever they want to hear while completely overlooking his own moral failures, I fear that Galli and others may have waited too long to speak up.
I worry that too many Americans today have confused the flag with the cross, and I worry that this confusion is being transported around the world by some missionaries and Christian agencies. For those engaged in God’s mission at home or abroad, our witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ may rise or fall on how we answer the “Caesar and God” question.
Those who follow Jesus must be crystal clear that, while Caesar may legitimately require our support in the form of taxes to provide for the common welfare and public safety, only God, whom we worship, know, and follow in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit, can bring the heavenly kingdom to earth, provide daily bread for all, grant forgiveness of sin, and deliver from evil.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue of the IBMR. As always, we look forward to receiving your comments.
Thomas John Hastings
OMSC Executive Director
IBMR Editor
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