13 April 2025

Have you seen the red MAGA baseball cap which is worn by supporters of President Trump? The MAGA is a shortened way of saying, ‘Make America Great Again!’ This has been Donald Trump’s rallying cry. At some events, supporters were not only wearing the MAGA baseball caps, they were carrying placards with a picture of a first century Christ with robes and beard.

As if that wasn’t surprising enough, this first century Christ was also wearing a red MAGA baseball cap! Jesus had been conscripted to enfold the message about America’s greatness into a Christian context. This was not only a Republican Party slogan but also a means of embracing  the Christian community by subverting the Gospel into the aspirations and dreams of a political party.

Did it work? Does it work? Can you see the living Christ riding upon a donkey into Jerusalem with his red MAGA baseball cap upon his head? Can you see him kneeling down on the floor and washing feet with his MAGA cap upon his head?

Can you see this red baseball cap proclaiming the message, ‘Make America Great Again’ standing before the perplexed political Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate,  who in his bewilderment asks, ‘What is truth?’ Can you see his red capped MAGA baseball cap taking the place of that painful crown of thorns and carrying his cross all the way to Calvary where many will surely be asking, ‘Does this make America great again?’

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