The Sermon on the Mount Does Not Belong in ICE Propaganda

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security quoted Matthew 5:9 in an Instagram reel promoting ICE. The text “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God” overlays night-vision footage of soldiers descending onto what appears to be American apartment buildings, armed with assault rifles. Federal agents detonate explosives and ram the doors of homes while Lorde’s cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire plays, an interesting choice considering the original song was a critique of the excesses of Cold War militarism. (The song has since been removed from the reel after Lorde joined other artists protesting DHS’ unauthorized use of their music for political social media content. I wish Christians could do the same with the misuse of the Bible, but I am not sure who could litigate such a request.)

This is not the first time DHS has utilized Scripture for political messaging. In July, they quoted Isaiah 6:9, “Here I am, send me,” in a video of helicopters shuttling CBP officers to the southern border, with Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” as the soundtrack. Another reel applied Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee…but the righteous are bold as a lion,” to footage of armed agents targeting immigrants in midnight raids. The caption warned that U.S. Border Patrol would “stop at nothing to hunt you down.” In all of these reels, federal agents engaging in aggressive militarism are presented as the peacemakers, the righteous, the ones sent by God.

The Department of Homeland Security’s most recent reel is unique in that it directly quotes Jesus himself. “Blessed are the peacemakers” comes from the Sermon on the Mount, believed by many to be Jesus’ most important teaching. In this sermon, Jesus brings a message of radical nonviolence to a crowd of people who have been conquered by the Roman Empire and are living under military occupation. He implores those suffering under a brutal regime not to return hatred with hatred, but to forgo revenge – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matt. 5:38-39). I am surprised this passage has yet to make an appearance in the DHS social media feed.

The Sermon on the Mount presents a form of resistance that has inspired nonviolent initiatives like the Civil Rights Movement, in which the fury of the state is met with the potency of love. It should be clear that using Jesus’ words on peacemaking to justify military-style weapons on American soil has nothing to do with heeding his most famous sermon. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security’s video reflects the Trump administration’s wider view of domestic and international affairs: peace through violence rooted in fear. It calls to mind the quote attributed to Calgacus, referring to the aftermath of the Roman Empire’s conquests: “They make a desert and call it peace.”

The problem here is not just the administration’s aggression, but the use of Christianity to support it. This fusion of Christian language with imperial ways of being is the consistent error of Christian nationalism. It is more nationalistic than Christian, more rooted in the ways of Machiavelli than the one from Nazareth.

For something to be Christian, it takes more than slapping a Bible verse on top of mood music. Christian reasoning must take the central event in the Christian tradition, the Crucifixion, seriously. The cross transfigures a symbol of imperial political violence, Rome’s torture of its enemies, into an image of forgiveness and the redemption of the most broken people. It centers weakness and love as a means of transformation. There seems to be no place for this kind of weakness in the Trump administration. There seems to be no room for the cross in an agenda of domination.

A mindset of domination cannot comprehend that weakness can actually be a source of strength. In Matthew 5:41, Jesus teaches his followers how to respond if conscripted into service by Roman soldiers: if forced to carry the soldiers' equipment for one mile, his followers are to walk two. This instruction may initially strike us as a pathetic act of capitulation, but it is in fact a dignifying act of human agency. Walking two miles instead of one forces the colonizer to recognize the powers of self-regulation, conviction, and choice that we retain even in the midst of oppression. This type of perspective seems incompatible with the current administration.

That is fine. I do not expect departments of government to reflect the fullness of Christian theology and practice. I am not looking for a theocracy. We live in a pluralistic society where my faith informs my values, but I understand that not everyone shares my convictions. If the Department of Homeland Security wants to argue for a set of policies and practices that trouble the consciences of so many Americans, they have the right to do so. But they should base their arguments on the merits of their policies instead of co-opting Jesus’ words for propaganda.

Esau McCaulley is Pastor of All Saints Church in Naperville, IL, host of the Esau McCaulley Podcast, and author of the forthcoming book God’s Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible: The Story of God’s Big Diverse Family. He serves as an Associate professor at Wheaton College.