One thing Jesus couldn’t stand was exceptionalism. Time and time again throughout his ministry, you would see him telling the people around him that they were, in fact, not all that special – not better than people who weren’t like them. Jesus grew up in a context in which his people understood themselves (rightly, I believe) to have a significant and direct relationship with God. They understood themselves (rightly, I believe) to have been shaped as a people on purpose and with a purpose.
Jesus did not take issue with this. For a people to understand themselves in relation to the God who made them, and to believe they have a purpose on this earth is empowering and beautiful. But Jesus noticed that certain people among him thought this relationship and purpose made them better than others – made their people somehow more worthy of God’s love and acceptance. They believed that they were an exceptional people.
That didn’t work for Jesus. He told parables highlighting the faithfulness of people outside their culture. He uttered prophetic warnings to the effect that if they weren’t interested in creating communities that authentically recognized the dignity of every human being, God would gladly find others to do it. Jesus’ point again and again was simple: Just because we matter to God, just because God gave us a purpose, does not make us exceptional. We are all people – and every person has the capacity to glorify God in ways you can’t even imagine.
I need to pause here and make it very clear that I do not believe the exceptionalism to which I refer is somehow a characteristic unique to the culture of ancient Israel, or of Jewish people. In our current times, we are seeing a horrifying surge in anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence in our country and across the globe. Christians in particular have an abysmal track record in terms of anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence. Of course there are and always have been Christians who have been supportive and respectful of our Jewish siblings. But some of the gravest threats to Jews throughout history have come from Christians, been condoned or undertaken by Christians. Some of the worst anti-Jewish thought and action has been done in Jesus’ name – often using Scriptures to justify dehumanization and marginalization. It is unacceptable. Antisemitism is anti-Christ. Period.
What is fascinating about the exceptionalism Jesus encountered among his people is how unexceptional it was: Leaning into a sense of exceptionalism seems to be a universally human temptation. It is difficult to think of a culture in history that has not had its own nationalistic, nativist, exceptionalist, factions and personalities.
I have been an American exceptionalist for the majority of my life. It’s true. I was raised to believe that America is the greatest country in the history of the world, and that to think otherwise was traitorous.
I remember when my Irish friend Scott once commented how strange he found it that Americans just walked around all thinking we were the greatest thing that has ever happened, and I found myself saying, “Well when you save the whole world as many times as we have, what else are you supposed to think?” And when he laughed at me – and he did openly laugh at me – that was the first time in my life I realized how ridiculous I sounded. Of course, what I said was narrow and chauvinistic. It was also historically inaccurate and, when you take a step back, just an unhealthy way to live in the world.
Which I understood somewhere deep and inarticulable when Scott, after laughing, said, “I’m really glad to have grown up not thinking that about my own country. I don’t have to pretend it’s the best in order to love it.”
I don’t have to pretend it’s the best in order to love it. Isn’t that great? I think about him saying that all the time: How often I have sought to idealize things and people in order to justify my love and devotion to them.
I believe this is the heart of exceptionalism. To believe my way of life is the glorious exception to the rest of the world allows me to sidestep any real inventory of our history, of our failures, of our need for God’s help.
I think of how many times our country tells the story about America beating Hitler, and how rarely we mention that Hitler explicitly used America’s Jim Crow laws as the structure and inspiration for his own segregationist policies. How often we point to the American liberation of concentration camps in Europe while ignoring the concentration camps we filled with Japanese-Americans at the same time.
American exceptionalism forces us to turn a blind eye to any facts that undermine our narrative of manifest destiny. It also keeps us from fully facing the ramifications of our current trajectory. As we watch an unchecked, unbalanced federal government snatch humans off the streets, tear families apart, deport people without due process, incite political violence, and use our own military to occupy the streets of our cities, we tell ourselves we will be fine because we are America: We have a divine destiny, we are exceptional.
As someone who loves this country deeply, I want to say as clearly as possible that we are not exceptional. We are a country made of people. We have some good laws and some bad ones. We are amazing and terrible, brilliant and stupid. Our history is filled with beauty and horror. This makes us like everyone else.
And as someone who loves Jesus deeply, I want to say as clearly as possible that ridding ourselves of American exceptionalism is a liberating act – one that is deeply Christlike. It allows us to be honest about who we have been and who we are. It humanizes our leaders, our selves, our neighbors.
American exceptionalism is a scourge. It harms Americans. It is not a benefit or a buoy, and it is certainly not an accurate description of our beloved country’s complicated history. American exceptionalism is delusional; it is a cancer. And as a Christian, let me say clearly and unequivocally that American exceptionalism is anti-Christ.
This may feel very dark and painful to hear and could be overwhelming. I am not saying it in order to overwhelm you.
As a Christian I believe in the God of hope, of deliverance, of liberation. I believe that Jesus was not seeking to shame those nearest to him, but to wake them up to the reality of the human condition – to their connection to all people, to the reality that God is present and active in this world not only inside their community – but outside it, beyond it as well. I believe Jesus knew that to learn this would in fact be liberating: To find out it is not your culture’s responsibility to save the world, but to bless the world with service, care, and love is a great gift.
To follow Jesus is to shed your exceptionalism and join the human race as a servant, to seek love, work for peace, and promote the health and welfare of those around you not for your own glory or the glory of your people, but to honor the God who made us all one blood, one family, one people – united by our common blessed humanity.
The end of American exceptionalism is proving to be difficult and painful. There is a better life on the other side, if we are willing to see God’s deliverance in it.
