Here’s a conundrum–what happens when you have multiple allegiances? Jesus stated that you cannot serve two masters–you will end up resenting the one out of the desire to give yourself to the other. But was Jesus right?

Today’s celebrated saints were “The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste” (a location formerly in lower Armenia, now in Turkey)–forty members of a Roman legion drawn from many different countries. Around the year 320, the military was ordered to offer sacrifices (pay up) to the Emperor, and forty of them boldly proclaimed that, as Christians, they could not and would not do so. At first, they were encouraged to think of the sacrifice to the Emperor as an act of patriotism. And, in fact, they were told that this was the best way to get along to get along–all for “God and country.”

But allegiance to God and allegiance to empire eventually must cause conflict–that is, if either the God or the empire expects its adherents to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly. Karl Marx recognized that religion (an allegiance to a god of any sort) would undercut an allegiance to the proletariat. It’s all well and good to hope that there never has to be a choice, but there are always moments of reckoning, some big and some small.

Not surprisingly, these forty were first cajoled then threatened and then urged and then tormented and then given a fourth, fifth, and sixth chance to change their minds and sacrifice to the Emperor. In the end, they were sent out on a frozen lake, naked, to die of exposure–those who survived the night were then burned alive. The saints helf fast to their primary allegiance [well, one didn’t, but he ended up dying on the spot, and a motivated bystander rushed in to join the 39 as a martyr for Christ, bringing their number back to 40].

It is a grave error (no pun intended) to believe that one can have more than one true allegiance. As a corollary, it is an error to assume that anyone does have more than one true allegiance. There were no doubt soldiers other than those 40 who considered themselves both Christians and patriots, and made their sacrifices. You know–render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s? But what was their true allegiance? Their own hides. Their own honor. Their own status. This isn’t to argue that having oneself as her or his primary allegiance is wrong–but just claim it and name it correctly.

Don’t call it patriotism, if your allegiance is not fully behind the other people who make up America–including those of a different gender, race, political persuasion, economic stratum, ethnic heritage, language, sexual persuasion, or level of ability than you. Don’t call it the worship of Jesus’s God if you do not make the effort to care for the poor, the lame, the blind, the maimed, the hungry, the prostitutes, and the employees of the IRS.

Maybe an allegiance is only truly known after the fact, whatever one professes. This is why the stories of martyrs are still told–they were not those who simply stated an allegiance, joined a church, or signed a pledge card…they were those whose allegiance was known by their life (and death) choices.