Heavenly Peace

Posted on by Sean

As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” – Luke 19:42

Last week on Fox and Friends, President Trump discussed his hope to broker peace in Ukraine and then the discussion went in an unexpected direction. Trump’s conversations are always drifting into bombast or rant. But in this moment he began to discuss eternal fears, would he be welcomed into heaven? With trepidation, he hoped creating peace in this massive land war — surely a good deed — would be the a work to open the pearly gates. 1

In our secular society2 it is refreshing to see a leader of the nation wrestling with existential questions, like eternal destiny. The powers in our world — politics, media, fame, business — rarely, if ever, consider heaven. If they do, they don’t debate getting to the good place. Much less does eternal destiny influence any of their decisions today.

Among the common people, especially those who are 79. It is this language that allows the President to connect with average Americans (see 2). This connection, if you are watching, will not bring peace, instead more division. All the more because Trump’s words are uninformed. Far from leading us to heavenly peace – Trump again divides us from truth. Even from the Truth.

Trump’s theology is mashup of Jesus and Karma: Jesus may be the bridge, but good works carry us across3 . In this theology perfection is not the goal, but tipping the scales with one more good deed. Or, to keep the bridge image, to tilt the bridge enough that we may slow roll to the pearly gates.

But Christ will not be manipulated. He teaches that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our works. This grace does not lack in action. Our life will be filled with good works, but the actions are secondary. The salvation is in our relationship. A relationship where we are not central, nor in charge. It is a relationship of submission, where we are called to follow Jesus.

We should wake up each morning and allow Jesus to fill our minds. How can I be more like our crucified Savior? Where is he calling me today? We are not after that one big good deed, instead we seek “the way marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). Submitting to Jesus, letting go of myself, sacrificing for others… following the Way is the bridge to heaven and, in Truth, also the Life that will bring this world peace (John 14:6).

  1. Read the NYTimes article, Here is Trump: “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he explained. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.” ↩︎
  2. We often declare we live in a “secular society”. In reality much of America is still religious (compare us to Western Europe, where Churches are now museums, here is Ryan Burge’s statistics). Yet there are centers at the top of society where the secular model dominates: news media, arts, education. These towers often dictate the nation’s perspective. For instance, the NYTimes author’s reaction to Trump: “Holy mother of God! What a thing to say at 8 o’clock in the morning.” I suppose this an intense subject for show called Fox and Friends (I kind of expect it be animated comedy). But the author reveals bias by taking the name of God in vain (or is it Mary’s name in vain)?? Rather than a serious question, it is a moment to declare the President absurd… and anyone who shares his question. —- The disconnect between these towers and the ground where normal people live, goes, I suspect, a long way to explain our current political moment. ↩︎
  3. Yet, here again, I worry the majority of Americans — even those sitting in a pew on Sunday — share the President’s confused theology. ↩︎

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