My next-door neighbor serves as a pastor. He also vocally supports Donald Trump. He has several Trump bumper-stickers affixed to his truck, including one the reads, “Trump 2020: Make Liberals Cry Again.”

I suspect he’s the one shedding tears right about now.

You see, the tables are about to turn.

It looks like Joe Biden will ultimately win the White House.

And this is the moment the left has been waiting for.  Now they get to stick it to all of those right-wing Trump supporters who have been sticking it to them for the last four years. After all, turnabout is fair play. We see the “conservatives'” attitude toward “liberals” over the last four years vividly displayed through the messaging on my neighbor’s bumper stickers. Stick it to the libs. Make them cry. Dominate them.

Well, now the shoe is on the other foot. The liberals get to stick it to the right-wingers. They get to make them cry. They get to dominate them.

This boils political systems down to their very essence: defeat, control and dominate — the exact opposite of the kingdom ethics Jesus taught.

The disciples imagined that their messiah was going to establish a mighty kingdom and overthrow Roman oppression. They got it half right. Jesus did come to establish a kingdom, but one unlike any human empire before it.

At one point, the disciples were walking along the road and they started arguing among themselves. When they arrived in Capernaum, Jesus asked, “What were you discussing on the way?”

But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” (Mark 8:34-37 ESV)

Who is the greatest? The disciples asked a political question. They imagined an earthly kingdom where there would be power to divvy up, people to lord over, and Romans to make cry. Jesus said, “You don’t get it. I’m not talking about that kind of kingdom. The greatest in my kingdom will be the servants.”

We see a similar question pop up in Mark 10: 35-38. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said.

Again, the disciples were imagining an earthly kingdom. They saw a political opportunity. They saw a chance for power.  They were going to get to stick it to the hated Romans. Jesus said, “Guys, you just don’t get it.”

The kingdoms of this world, including the good ol’ U.S. of A. run on violence, force and coercion. Politics serves as a means to control that power. And it’s a power that no Christian should have any part in.

Jesus isn’t about making liberals cry, or vanquishing the rubes who supported Trump. Jesus isn’t about conquering and dominating the other side of the political aisle. Jesus is about servanthood. He’s about peace, love, grace and mercy.

The tables have turned. Liberals get to make conservatives cry again. But mark my words, the tables will turn again. It’s an ugly game of musical chairs. The music will play on but the people of God should find another place to sit.