This is the final installment to a series I did on empire for Advent. I hope you find what you need.
Today is Epiphany. The start of a ‘New Year’ according to the church calendar. Or if you’re part of church traditions that have no traditions, today is Tuesday. It’s also January 6th.
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A dubious day that marks the time right-wing fanatics in America attempted a coup of the US Capitol buildings. Among the many rioters were American Christians in full belief they were doing god’s good work.
Today, J6 participants have mostly gotten off scott-free. Their man back in power starting wars and expanding his fascist enterprise.
So what’s the connection to Epiphany? A lot.
Epiphany traditionally marks the visit of the Magi who subvert the empire in their bid to visit the mysterious child. They are astrologers (funny how many Christians laud the Magi but poo-poo astrology) who follow the stars to Jesus.
When they arrive in Jerusalem years after the birth, they seek the ‘king of the Jews’. This catches the attention of Herod—figure head of the Roman Empire—who brings the magi to him.
Rumors of a king threaten Herod’s (and the empire’s) power. He is always on the lookout for usurpers. Some would say he is afraid. Herod instructs the magi to return to him after their search and reveal the location of Jesus. The magi find Jesus, but catching bad vibes from Herod, they leave Bethlehem without reporting. In response, Herod’s fear intensifies and the infamous murder of children—all boys under two—transpires.
This story of incredulous infanticide, and the scale of such an evil, is often glossed over in church accounts. But if we connect the dots between the features and functions of empires back then to present day there’s little difference….
America continues to fuel the war machine globally. Israel continues their American-backed genocide of Gazans. Russia continues to bomb Ukraine. Saudi Arabia continues its genocide in Sudan. The corporate lust for rare earth metals continues destroying Congo. And so on….
Perhaps it’s important to name what the empire is. I think Christians are already poised to understand precisely what empire represents.
Empire: the systems that curtail our individual and collective wholeness. In other words, the empire is sin at work in the world.
Sin is not that individual moral failure, that’s cheap theology at work to justify the work of empire! Sin includes all of the material ways systems from governments, corporations, churches, enrich themselves by destroying all others.
The question we must hold into 2026 and beyond is how will you square off against the sins of empire?
Omar Reyes, co-pastor with me at A Beautiful Table church, once preached on this, “…I believe the empire has fears.”
What does the empire fear? Answer: any threat to its hegemonic power.
The empire legitimately fears its abolishment. But systems, and the people running them, are not dissuaded by complaints from the masses. Rather, a material resistance that subverts and destroys the appetites of empire is the way.
In other words, what the empire fears is a who.
And who does the empire fear? Any body that stands in opposition to the status quo, the appetites of exploitation, the lust for capital, the demands for dominance. Empire fears voices who claim better is out there. A movement of people who seek to organize themselves in life-giving alternatives where life, liberation, and freedom are available to all and all can live well.