Christians and the Rebel Alliance

Scripture: Romans 13:1 – “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” (NRSVUE)

News came out this week that, after about thirty years of fans complaining, the original, non-Special Edition of the original Star Wars will come out in February of 2027. So, that made me think about one of the key themes of Star Wars, and so much of life: rebellion vs. authority.

When you watch Star Wars, you want to be the Rebels. They are clearly the good guys and are trying to restore peace and justice to the galaxy by resisting the evil Galactic Empire built on fear and oppression. Ideally, the story inspires us to resist injustice where we see it in the real world.

Christians are also commanded to resist injustice. Jesus undermined Jewish and Roman authorities in his teachings, and sometimes his actions, which led to his crucifixion. You don’t get executed as a terrorist by keeping your head down and just saying nice things. Many early church leaders like Stephen were driven out of town, imprisoned, and even killed when they insisted on preaching the gospel.

So, Christians have this rebellious streak in them, and to be honest, it makes us kind of cool. But there is also this well-known passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.” I have found this verse often gets bandied about when your preferred political side is in power and is conspicuously ignored when the other side is in charge. But what is Paul saying here? Should Christians just keep their heads down and follow the rules no matter how unjust they might be?

Paul and later church leaders who wrote in his name walked a fine line on respecting authority. One the one hand, Christianity would struggle to exist if it was seen as radically threatening to most people’s way of life. Their position had always been transforming the world through love and service, not violent revolution. When Paul wrote to Rome, he needed to deny the rumors that Christians were a threat to civil authorities.

However, if you look at Paul’s life, you know that Paul didn’t remotely follow this idea. He refused to be silent in proclaiming the gospel. He was regularly imprisoned and ultimately executed by Roman authorities. Despite what he said in his letter, he was ultimately a rebel.

So, what about us? Are we rebels or do we maintain peace within our society? I think the answer to this question is which values do you put in the highest place. Do you put your ultimate faith in a government or in a political ideology or do you put your faith in the teachings of Jesus? Jesus taught justice, but not on the world’s terms. He resisted oppression and called out hypocrisy, but he also refused political power or violence. He embraced the outsider and forgave his enemies.

It’s fun to imagine resisting the Empire with light sabers and laser blasters. But sometimes the real rebellion is loving your neighbor, especially when they are different from you. It’s knowing when to protest and when to let justice take its course. By putting our faith in Jesus first, we will find a way to bring peace and justice to our world.

Prayer: Jesus, let me find peace in my heart and in my community and let me work towards justice and truth by my faith in you. Amen.

Image credit: Jamie McCaffrey