One hears a lot about politics. It is natural as we live in a state, where parties, borders, ideologies, and national leaders occupy much of our internal and external dialogue. My advice: stop caring about politics. Do not involve yourself in politics that substitute active care of the needful and the public good for divisive international and interidiological disputes. Stop following politics, start following God.

The word ‘politics’ is handed down to us from the Greek word for the city-state, the polis. The polis loomed large in the mind of ancient thinkers as the source of order and civilization, outside of which both certainty of life and culture were tentative and scarce. Socrates famously refused to abandon his state even when the state was the instrument by which he was persecuted and sentenced to death. Instead of escaping when given the opportunity, he drank the poison cup offered him.

Maybe this story sounds familiar. “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me, nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). Jesus who died for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven submitted to the kingdom of man. But what do we make of Christ’s uncertainty and dread before Socrates’ unwavering willingness to die for the good of his state? How can God be more human than a man, and a man more hardened than Christ. “I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezk. 36:26). Jesus drank the poison cup for the sake of the Kingdom of God with fear and great trepidation, God and man, more truly human than a natural-born man with a steadfast heart. The Suffering servant says, “I have set my face like flint” (Is. 50:2), but the Sacred Heart of Jesus bears all wounds. He died to the world, for the world, may all of us truly say the same. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (Jn. 3:16-17).

What is the world? Not the Glory of God, which is creation. Instead it is the tribal culture of political, national, or even human interests, in the broadest sense of the term. “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn. 6:33). The light of the world is not given by men, but comes from God alone. Human political interest will not strengthen or damage the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven is already among us, and is to come into fulfillment beside man’s efforts for or against it. I do not say be passive and ignore the world, instead ignore the idolatrous world built by human hands that is a prideful perversion of Creation. Let our hearts be filled with the suffering of our brothers and sisters rather than the tides of change in our nations and governments. “This heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Give and act unconditionally for the good of everyone. “If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” (Matt. 5:40). Jesus not only bore the sins of the world, but also the suffering of the world so that we may be strengthened by it. Suffering not of the flesh with the mind set apart and hardened against it, but “in agony” at heart, that “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Lk. 22:43-44).

There is no polis on earth that is not subject to the moth and the worm. A tower built on sand will fall. The only nation that endures is the Kingdom of God. It is in our hearts and with us when we gather to give thanks to God. It is the glorious hope of the world to come. Anyone who speaks of secular nationalism and especially of Christian nationalism is far from the Kingdom in their heart. If there is a ‘Christian nationalism,’ it is the truth that we share in the body and blood, substance and life of Christ on earth and are citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem. “They shall know you are my disciples by your love for each other” (Jn. 13:35). Moreover, “if you love those who love you, what benefit is it to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Lk. 6:33). Love, therefore, those who are different from you, who think, act, and speak differently. Love the saints and the sinners. Love the poor, love the rich, but desire poverty of spirit. Obey the powerful, but know that they will go away hungry. You will not like everyone, but pray for their good. “Be merciful, even as your Heavenly Father is merciful” (Lk. 6:36). When we hate or revile another, we bless the one we persecute and store up wrath for ourselves.