2.10 Jesus was a very tribal guy
Here’s what a kind–hearted liberal Christian might say to a hard–core Christian who’s a tribal fundamentalist…
You’re getting Jesus wrong. He was a man of compassion. He was inclusive. He ministered to the poor and the outcast. He was their advocate. We should follow in his footsteps.
That tribal fundamentalist might reply…
You’re getting Jesus wrong. He was a warrior fighting against the evil in this world and against the evil people. He said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” We’re following in his footsteps.
So which Jesus is the right one?
They both are.
Jesus was an old–fashioned tribal guy. He believed fiercely that…
Within the tribe nurturance should reign supreme.
He preached that every single member of the tribe should be cared for. He wanted every single member of the tribe to have a chance to grow up to be their best self and make their best contribution to the life of the tribe.
But he believed just as fiercely in the righteousness of a tribal boundary…
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus preached that if you followed him, if you submitted to him and obeyed him, you would be saved. You would be taken up into heaven when you died to live in eternal bliss.
But if you turned your back on him, you’d be his enemy and suffer bitter consequences.
So…
Jesus was not getting rid of tribalism.
He was advocating for a kinder and more caring and therefore stronger Jewish tribe. And this mattered because, in the Romans who occupied their land, the Jews had a terrible enemy. They needed every bit of collective strength they could muster.
Some years after the death of Jesus, Saul of Tarsus became Paul and went out around the Mediterranean evangelizing gentiles in foreign lands. But he wasn’t getting rid of tribalism…
He wasn’t a trans-tribalist.
Yes, he was transcending the tribe of Palestinian Jews. But he was building a new, improved, more inclusive Tribe of Christ.
There was still a tribal boundary. There was still an inside and an outside. Inside, Christians lived in collective communities where they looked after each other. But anyone outside the tribe, anyone who refused to convert, was an enemy.
Now in our time, liberals stand by their compassionate Jesus, while the conservative nihilists stand by their warrior Jesus. And they batter each other with their arguments, each side trying to convert the other.
Here we are now with tens of millions of Christian nationalists in our country. They’ve jettisoned the compassionate, nurturing side of Jesus. They’re swallowed up in hate. They hate everyone not like them. They’re scared of all those people who are not like them. They consider those outsiders as existential threats and therefore want to punish them pre-emptively.
Within their tribes they are living not on compassionate nurturance but on wretched, debilitating rage. Which is why I call Christian nationalists…
Christian nihilists.
Look at their political party, look at their MAGA movement, they have no program. They have nothing to offer anyone, not even themselves. They are not even taking care of themselves and their children, because…
They have surrendered to death.
And this means, if you want to talk with them about Jesus, it won’t work to cite Bible verses illustrating how he cared for the outcast and the poor. Instead…
You have to address their nihilism directly.
Which nihilists hate, so for the most part they’ll refuse to have that conversation with you.
And yet there is this contradiction roiling within them. Our human genome is founded on tribal fundamentalism. This is the element of humanness that has given us our grand success, and it’s the element of humanness that is on track to kill us.
But let’s remember that tribalism has two dimensions. There is the warrior part, the hate part, the attack part that is the focus for the nihilists.
But even in them, buried, is…
The nurturance part of our genome.
And what if you come across a nihilist who gives you an opening? Someone who on this particular day is sad about how many people they have to hate and how thin and bleak and uncaring their version of Christianity is. And maybe this person has a vague, but persistent longing for a more nurturing way of life. Then you get to try starting up a conversation.
But…
You can’t be meek and mild.
Because we’re talking about…
An existential conversation.
So you go with them, hand in hand…
Down, all the way down, into their primal need for nurturance.
Which is an existential need.
And you are so serious about this, and bold. And you get to show them that the nurturing moral force in you is stronger than the self–devouring nihilism that’s taken over their life.
And then they can trust you and maybe take a first step into unburying their need.
