Suppose the point were to be made — and it is a worthy point to make — that being a Christian trumps being an American. This is a point with which I am in whole-hearted agreement, and which I have made in this place numerous times. A conservative Republican believer in Jesus has far more in common with a Palestinian Christian than he does with a secular representative of the state of Israel. A thousand amens. Jesus makes all the difference.
But there is a way of agreeing with this that shows one is growing up into the fundamental tenets of “mere Christendom,” and there is another way of agreeing with it that shows one is just becoming a liberal. There is a way of appealing to Jesus because you find Jesus appealing, and there is a way of appealing to Jesus because you find American hegemony unappealing.
So here is a litmus test for you. I am afraid it is an unpopular litmus test because it works every time. It is that kind of unpopular.
If you find yourself in real solidarity with Palestinian Christians, and you want to know if it is love for Jesus, or just your nascent inner-anti-Semite rising, just ask yourself this question, which, in its theological structure is exactly the same question. Who do you have more in common with — a Palestinian non-Christian or a devout Christian woman with hoop earrings who just got back from the RNC, where she spent the entire convention wearing a big hat shaped like an elephant?
I said it is exactly the same question, and it is. The reason we might get radically different answers is that something else is going on. There is a lot of “radical” Christianity out there that is just a pretense — it is simply a stalking horse for another tired form of anti-Americanism. Show me something new.
I say all this knowing that there is a prophetic case to be made against America’s sins, which are great, and I know further that it is our duty in the church to make that case. I know also that the heavy gravitational pull of various American idolatries has many conservative believers trapped in a criss-cross spider web of red, white, and blue. But faux-solidarity with Christians on the other side of the world is nowhere near escape velocity. If shared love for Jesus can transcend the barriers thrown up by the conflict in the Middle East, then why can’t it transcend the barriers created by your neighbor’s love for the 700 Club, and your inability to abide that man?
It turns out that love for Jesus, of this sort anyway, only creates solidarity if we know next to nothing about a situation. We have created our own version of Linus’ maxim — “I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.” We say “I love Palestinian Christians. It’s dispensational Zionist Southern Baptist Christians I can’t stand.” And it turns out that the whole thing hinges on the fact that you actually know some people in this latter group. And their entire outlook and demeanor (and support for Israel!) means loving them constitutes a whole new level of Christian discipleship. Might as well get started.