Jesus Is Lord

It is time for the Church to cry ‘Jesus is Lord’!

In the early days of Christianity, when Rome was the dominant power and Caesar was considered divine, the crowds shouted ‘Caesar is Lord’. It was a shout of loyalty, and submission to the Emperor that was expected from every person under Roman rule.

The early Christians however would instead cry ‘Jesus is Lord’. They refused to accord Caesar the same status as the risen Christ. Caesar was a man in authority, yes. But divine? No! And no amount of intimidation, threats, jail or execution would force those words from their lips. There was only one Lord, and the Christian’s first loyalty was to Him.

This was not a new phenomenon, it had its precedent in places like Babylon, where three men were thrown into the flames for the same refusal to bow down. Their refusal was regarded as a subversive act of sedition and disloyalty. To proclaim allegiance to another King in the face of your (divine) Emperor was treason, punishable by death.

This action was regarded in the same way, yet they would not yield. In the face of the popular crowd, shouting ‘Caesar is Lord’, the Christians proclaimed ‘Jesus is Lord’.

I think the Australian Church is now at this point.

In the face of a government that has enshrined the legal mistreatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and demands absolute unquestioned loyalty to the state, we must respond ‘Jesus is Lord’. The Border Force Act, offshore processing, placing children in detention despite the clear warnings from doctors, teachers and the like; requires from the Church an act of obedience to Christ. The clearly unjust treatment of the poorest, most vulnerable people in this way is the very opposite of what Jesus commanded. We must proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’.

Minister Peter Dutton has warned that any Church offering sanctuary could face the penalty of law, we must proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’.

Doctors and teachers who have worked on Nauru and Manus Island have spoken of the terrible conditions there. They have been threatened with legal action. We must proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’.

Caesar demands our worship, we must proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord’. We dare not be silent, we dare not take the path of ‘cheap grace’. We must heed the warnings of Bonhoeffer and others about the dangers of staying silent, Christians will not be held guiltless.

It is time for th Church to cry ‘Jesus is Lord’!