"Jesus' kingdom (and Paul's 'citizenship in heaven') was about the real world, hear and now. It was about allegiance. Jesus and Paul were telling the people that they must live here with their identities as aliens. They must live by the rules of heaven amid the violent earthly powers. And to claim that one's citizenship is in heaven is to say that you pledge allegiance not to any of the kingdoms of the world but to Jesus and the body of those who take on his suffering, enemy-loving posture toward the world. This is what Peter meant when he called the church 'a holy nation. a people set apart,' a people who are supposed to live as 'aliens and strangers in the land.'"
Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals
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