This week we’ll be looking at some bible passages regarding political engagement. As you reflect on these simple passages, ask the Spirit to speak to you and guide you in your political outlook and your political action.

When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. - Acts 16:35-40

In Philippi where Paul had endured law enforcement brutality, he appealed to his rights of Roman citizenship. Instead of letting the local rulers throw him out of town, he pushed back on them, implicitly inviting them to acknowledge that they acted illegally (law enforcement was allowed to beat/imprison non-citizens, but not citizens). Then, instead of leaving as they 1) originally ordered and 2) later requested, Paul went and spent time with the local church and only after he was done did he leave town. Again, he shows that as a follower of Jesus, he was willing to cross the political rulers of his time.

What political freedoms and privileges do you have? How are you using those to push back on political authorities for the sake of bringing Shalom to the world?