Last week donald trump spoke before the National Religious Broadcasters – a collection of fundamentalist evangelicals committed to “protect[ing] the free speech rights” of religious broadcasters. Their commitment to protect free speech rights of others? Not so much as anyone who critiques them is actually persecuting them. trump’s speech was naturally filled with lies and boundless self-promotion, which makes me wonder why “Christian” broadcasters would applaud such blatant pride and dishonesty. Of course, me calling out their hypocrisy is a form of persecution!

But in the midst of his personal bloviation he said something that actually stuck out. He promised his “Christian” listeners that should he be elected, “no one will touch the cross of Christ.” Now, I have NO idea what the heck that is supposed to mean and I strongly doubt trump himself knows either. But I get that trump sees himself, and sadly, these supposed Christian leaders do as well, as THE defender of Christianity in the United States. He also said in this speech and in others that no one has done as much for Christianity, or even for religion, as he has! He also said in the same speech that the greatest threat his audience had to face was not from outside the country, but from within. Don’t ever forget my fundamentalist friends that the libs are out to get you!

Sorry, my sarcasm is getting the better part of me. Heck, my sarcasm IS the better part of me!

But to keep people from “touching the cross of Christ”? For real, are there people seeking to steal Jesus’ cross that I do not know anything about? And why would one want to steal the cross that Christ was crucified on? Even more, does Jesus not want others touching or stealing his cross? And if so, why exactly?

I know, I know, I am asking the king of nonsense to give a reasonable basis for one of his statements. That is not going to happen. But considering the unfathomable applause given this ludicrous statement by so-called Christian leaders I think it is worth better understanding the cross of Christ in the first place, at least contextually.

I am depending heavily on The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, a biblical resource that helps us understand the social, cultural, and political context during the time of Jesus’ life and ministry. The cross was used as a heinous form of death, meant to frighten all who viewed the very public spectacle. Thus, it was used for those who were the most potentially disruptive to the status quo.

It was deeply painful. It usually did not hurt any internal organs and there was minimal loss of blood so death came slowly as the lungs, from hanging for so long, finally are no longer able to get enough breath. The person would ultimately die of asphyxiation and it would often take days for this to happen.

It was used by multiple cultures and nation states and so its use varied widely among the groups of people who used it. The Romans usually included a public flogging before the cross which was followed by those being crucified being forced to carry their own cross to the place where they would die. Jesus was certainly not the only Jew to be killed in this way. During the Roman siege of Jerusalem, which was in the year 70 AD, hundreds of Jewish prisoners were tortured and then crucified facing the city so that the residents of Jerusalem would see what awaited them if they resisted Roman rule.

So, I return to my questions. Why exactly would anyone want to steal Christ’s cross and thus, why would anyone feel the need to defend it? Jesus, like so many of his age, was crucified because he was a political, social, and cultural threat to the status quo. He embodies a full scale revolution to those who benefit from the status quo and who feel threatened by those on the margins. It is more than clear that trump and his audience feed off of one another because of the threat they feel from the margins. Remember, the enemy they fear the most are from those of us already within the country. And in response to the campaign of lies and fear that they collectively spread, we are best served when we base our resistance on truth, especially when they say such baseless and ridiculous things.

So, while they are defending Christ’s cross from being touched, little do they know that they, more than anyone, should be embracing that cross – the cross reserved for those who do not defend the status quo, but work to creatively and nonviolently disrupt it – for their own liberation.