Because suffering is not the problem

We all know that recent history (not to mention the ancient past) is littered the examples of governments which have been brutal and corrupt.  Why is it, then, that Paul is able to say

Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God. Rom 13:1

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that, for Christians, there are greater enemies than death.  Byron Smith has commented on this here, so I won't attempt a poor reproduction of his work.  I will simply make some observations about how this applies to the political sphere.

Firstly, we know Jesus submitted to the unjust judgments of a corrupt and broken political system.  He was falsely accused, had his life exchanged for the life of a terrorist, and horribly executed between men who were guilty as charged.  Was God out of control?  No.  In Jn 19, when Pontius Pilate, confused and frustrated, bursts out:

Don't you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?

Jesus replied

You would have no authority over me at all if it hadn't been given you from above.

Perhaps, though, Jesus is - as in so many other ways - unique, distinct, salutary but not exemplary?  And yet when Babylon, that most pragmatic of imperial powers, sweeps through Jerusalem and carries the best and brightest of Judah into exile, what does God command in Jer 29?

Build houses and live in them.  Plant gardens and eat their produce.  Take wives and have sons and daughters.  Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters.  Multiply there; do not decrease.  Seek the welfare of the city to which I have deported you.  Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper.

Rev 13 is basic reading for a Christian political worldview. In it, a terrible government is described as a 'beast'.  It is given 'authority' by the dragon, Satan, who was thrown out of heaven. With this authority, the beast wages war on the saints of God.  Yet we know, already, that Satanic authority is only a chimaera and an illusion.  Satan may the the constituting agent of this government, but his power is ordered by Lord of Hosts.

Why does God allow this to happen?  Why does he allow his people to be persecuted, churches burned down, pastors murdered?  Because suffering is not the enemy.  Nor is death.

The bald truth is that God is on about laying an axe to the root of the tree of suffering, not pruning its branches.  God's purpose is to exalt his Son and defeat death and recreate the cosmos.  And along the way he uses suffering to shape his people and grow his church.

Stanley Hauerwas wrote

What we must fear as Christians is not our death at the hand of an unjust aggressor but how as Christians we might serve the neighbor without resorting to unjust means.

This is why Christianity produces martyrs, not terrorists.  Because there are greater enemies than death.  Stay tuned for Michael Jensen's work in this area!