In Jesus 7.2.2026

5 They live in their own countries, but as aliens. 4 They share in everything as citizens and endure everything as foreigners. 5 Every foreign country is ⌊their country⌋, 6 and every country is foreign. Epistle to Diognetus, Rick Brannan, trans., The Apostolic Fathers in English (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012)

    Christian people have their identity in Jesus. I think that the epistle to Diognetus captures this complexity perfectly. It is in being able to embrace what it means to be in this world (whether that be our city, county, or nation) but not of it, that helps us to be joyfully present in our world. 

    In a couple of days, we will celebrate Independence Day 250. And while we will always have a special place in our hearts for the land of our native, physical birth, as Christians we should recognize that we should never feel fully at home here. Our new birth defines our nature, destiny, and purpose. 

    I believe we need to recall what it means to live, like our first brethren, in our own country, but as aliens. We need to hold fast to the Biblical testimony regarding our heavenly citizenship and cultivate a historical understanding of how believers have negotiated this often-confounding path. Diognetus is a good place to start. I think these words remind us that to stubbornly hold so tightly to something which is not permanent, risks losing the good offered by that very thing. And Diognetus is expounding a solidly Biblical principle. That’s the job of preacher/pastor/theologians, to take scripture and to interpret it into new contexts, new situations. 

    Here are some scriptures that help maintain a balanced perspective amid our alien existence. I don’t know if these texts were on the mind of the Epistle of Diognetus, but they certainly have resonance.  

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.”(Psalm 137:1 ESV)

“the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.” (Ezekiel 1:3 ESV)

“ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” (Acts 16:13-14 ESV)

Three texts about three exiles, three aliens. Their identity was found neither in their native land nor in the land of their exile. They found their identity in their relationship to God. Lydia soon responded to the Gospel and found a new identity in Jesus. In their exile the knew their true citizenship was in the Kingdom. The same is true for us. Our true place is the Church, the present Kingdom of our Lord.

    We are not the first who have had to deal with this uncomfortable reality of being, in a sense, exiled, or at least separated from our home. We make the best of it. We hear God’s voice. In some circumstances the way will be wet with tears, in others there will be joyful celebration. 

    Peter addresses the whole Church in his epistle, when he assumes that this is our universal status. He describes his audience (as a “catholic” epistle this would be the whole, distributed Church) with these words.

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (1 Peter 1:1 ESV)

Mrs. Beckman and I live next to the mighty Wabash river. It isn’t the Chebar canal, it’s not the Gagnitus river. Just the ol’ Wabash. One of these days we will be at home and sing by another river

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1 ESV)

 Till then, every country is foreign, and every country is home. Till then, we are happy exiles sharing the story of an undiscovered country and a universal kingdom. Till then, we tell the story of Jesus for those who love and live by that story, and for those who loath and laugh at that story. Till Jesus comes, or we conclude our journey we are happy travelers who sleep soundly at night, joyful exiles in the arms of Jesus. 

 

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,

The beautiful, the beautiful river;

Gather with the saints at the river

That flows by the throne of God.