Empire vs Kingdom

 Paul Dazet

We Were Formed for Love, Not Loyalty to Empire

On letting go of what never healed us

TL;DR: Empire doesn’t just oppress, it disciples. It shapes our desires, directs our fears, and teaches us to defend what harms us. But Jesus offers another way: a community grounded in love, not control. This post is an invitation to unlearn what was never the Gospel in the first place.

The Real Shock of Collapse

If the empire we’re living in eventually crumbles, and history suggests it will, 

The scandal won’t be how greedy the powerful were.

That’s always been part of the story.

The shock will be how deeply the oppressed believed in it.

How many of us internalized its logic.

How fiercely we defended it, 

Even as it was hurting us.

We didn’t just suffer under empire.

We were formed by it.

Empire Doesn’t Just Rule—It Shapes

Empire survives not just by enforcing control, but by winning hearts.

It tells us who belongs.

It teaches us who to fear.

It defines success as dominance.

And it makes competition feel like common sense.

Eventually, we don’t need to be coerced.

We’ve already been discipled.

We defend systems that harm our neighbors.

We confuse suffering with sanctification.

We think we’re protecting values,

But we’re really protecting power.

Scarcity Is Empire’s Language

Empire always whispers the same story:

There isn’t enough.

You don’t matter unless you earn it.

If someone else gains, you must be losing.

And so we fight to protect crumbs,

While others feast unseen.

We grow suspicious of compassion.

We see justice as threat.

We begin to believe that punishment is love.

That’s not just economic.

It’s spiritual.

It’s formative.

When Faith Gets Colonized

Empire doesn’t mind religion, as long as it reinforces control.

So it reshapes the Gospel:

Wealth becomes proof of blessing

Poverty becomes a moral failure

Power becomes God-ordained

Injustice becomes unobserved / invisible

We begin to see the cross not as a critique of empire, 

But as permission to endure it silently.

But Jesus doesn’t endorse the system.

He exposes it.

Jesus Doesn’t Lead Us Up—He Leads Us Out

Jesus didn’t rise through the ranks.

He walked into the pain.

He refused the throne.

He washed feet.

He fed people without paperwork.

He welcomed the unwanted.

He showed us what love looks like when it puts down its sword.

When it loses the argument and finds the neighbor.

When it tears down dividing walls instead of fortifying them.

And he invites us to do the same.

So What Are We Holding On To?

This is the hard question:

What are we clinging to that never healed us?

What parts of empire have we baptized as “truth”?

Where have we mistaken fear for faithfulness?

Because sometimes the deepest work of discipleship

Is unlearning what empire taught us to believe.

A Different Way of Being

The kingdom of God is not a meritocracy.

It is not a pyramid.

It is not a punishment.

It is a table.

Set in the presence of our enemies.

With room for the ones we were taught to fear.

And food for the ones we forgot to feed.

This is where healing begins, 

Not by climbing higher,

But by coming home to each other.

A prayer of letting go

Christ of the margins,

Unteach us what empire taught.

Heal the wounds we’ve mistaken for wisdom.

Pull us out of the systems that praise strength and punish tenderness.

Teach us how to see again,

With eyes shaped by grace,

With hearts formed for love,

With hands open to the work of healing.

Amen.