G. K. Chesterton said that Saint John in his Apocalypse had beheld many strange and impossible creatures, but none so strange and impossible as some of his own commentators. It was the same for Jesus. His name has been invoked through the ages by many groups and causes to which he would not willingly give it.
Rodney Kennedy
The latest iteration of John’s creatures is *maga. For Jesus to be linked with the Trumpian group is a gross instance of false advertising. Jesus proclaimed a message of reconciliation, not virulent revenge. He clearly preached “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemies,” while President Trump regularly practices the opposite of those virtues.
The scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus of consorting with known sinners, working on the Sabbath, encouraging his disciples to ignore cleanliness laws, usurping the prerogative of God to forgive sins, and blasphemously employing the name of God without specific authority to do so. But he did not equate morality with spirituality. In fact, he consistently demonstrated that there was a vast difference between the two and inveighed against confusing them.
Given the “fellowship” habits of Jesus, an interesting question arises: Would Jesus attend a Trump rally? Yes, of course. He often appeared in places where he was unexpected. He hung out with supercilious religious folk, sinners, and publicans. Surely he would attend a Republican rally, even though it attracts crazies like hummingbirds flocking to a firebush.
The problem is not with Jesus but with how the Trump rally crowd would receive him. He would undoubtedly have said some confrontational things to the crowd, as he often did. Yes, Jesus would disrupt a Trump rally. His words would confuse and befuddle maga followers. One of Trump’s often-repeated claims is, “If someone screws you, you have to screw them back five, ten, fifteen times.”
Refuting this garbage should be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, but Trump believers are still shouting “Amen.” It is as if Jesus never said, “But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:39-42).
Jesus insists his followers love, forgive, and pray for their enemies. There’s a disconnect within maga thinking from the clear teachings of Jesus. Something has darkened their minds. They have eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear. There’s no indication the presence and words of Jesus would have an impact on Trump rally goers. But if Trump’s “Christian” followers are unwilling to follow Jesus, are we willing to construct an alternative gospel message that centers on the teachings of Jesus?
A Make America Great Again hat sits on top of a Christmas tree during a Trump rally on Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)
In fairness, I should ask what Jesus would say if he appeared in our sanctuary on a Sunday morning. Would we hand him a Bible, allow him to read, and preach? He’s not listed in the order of worship. He doesn’t have clergy credentials.
Rev. John Killinger asked his Lynchburg Presbyterian Church this question in a 1983 sermon: “What hard things would he have to say to us? ‘You take great pride in your elegant sanctuary and beautiful windows,’ Jesus might say. “Will they save you from the judgment to come?” And: “You delight in your hymns and creeds and sacraments. But the poor of the world shall rise up and condemn you, because you have not given yourselves to compassion and justice. You are whited sepulchers, glistening on the outside but putrid and stinking with old carcasses on the inside.” And: “You spend hours preparing your faces and bodies to come to the sanctuary of God; you would do well to spend half the time preparing your souls, that you come not as strangers but as true children of the heavenly Father.”
Killinger understood we all face the judgment of God. Jesus never shied from speaking the truth to everyone. He would have been as bold at a Trump rally, or a progressive downtown cathedral, as he was when he took a whip and cleared the Temple of thieves and robbers.
So, yes, Jesus would have attended a Trump rally. And looking on them, he would have loved them and been sorrowful for their deluded state. More importantly, Jesus would attend church with us. And what he told us to do should be our immediate task in a world coming apart at the seams.
*I have made the deliberate choice to stop using upper case for “maga” because I believe the movement has so lowered itself in fealty to Trump that the lower case is the only appropriate way to speak of this group.
Rodney Kennedy has his M.Div. from New Orleans Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Louisiana State University. The pastor of 7 Southern Baptist churches over the course of 20 years, he pastored the First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio — which is an American Baptist Church — for 13 years. He is currently professor of homiletics at Palmer Theological Seminary, and interim pastor of Emmanuel Friedens Federated Church, Schenectady, New York. His eighth book, Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit, is out now from Cascade Books.
