The Lonely Prophet
The biggest problem with Christianity is the fact that it has lost direction. In our German community we are discussing cooperation between neighbouring communities to reduce costs. We visited each other comparing the groups we offer, looking at the varying main areas of work and it occurred to too few of us that we hadn’t discussed the spiritual component. On inspection, it has become apparent that our church, as it is all over the world to varying degrees, is unable to concentrate on the spiritual message and instead commits itself to political agendas. Thus, whatever political colour the church chooses to where, it compromises itself.
If there is something that I have learnt from the New Testament, it is that under Roman occupation, the varying political directions in Israel were having a covert struggle for power which Jesus had successfully avoided. Only when he came too close to the Sadducees for their comfort was he dragged in and served as a danger to social peace to the Romans. The whole direction of Jesus was independent spirituality; he was building an autonomous Movement that was orientated on the spiritual teachings of the Tanakh. All attempts to draw him to the one side or the other had been unsuccessful – he had continually defended his autonomy.
Of course, like in the Roman Church at a later stage, political disputes were often disguised as quarrels about Scripture to fool the imperial spies who were everywhere. The people who suffered under this pseudo-leadership were the common population. They were tired of Zealot uprisings from Galilee, the revenge of the Tetrarchs, the sanctimonious teachings of the Pharisees, the boot-licking of the Sadducees and the swindling Tax-Collectors. Jesus came and helped. What he taught gave people hope. He was selfless and dedicated; he taught people that God had other values than the powers that struggled under the carpet of Roman occupation. He praised the Widow for her perseverance, the poor for their patience, comforted the mourning, consoled the meek, and gave hope to those who hungered for righteousness; he encouraged the merciful, blessed the pure in heart, gave confidence to the peacemakers and strengthened the hearts of those who suffered persecution.
The same can be said about the Churches in the Roman Empire (roughly said) prior to Constantine. It had always been of great importance to retain independence, which caused problems in various Communities, when the Roman citizens objected to the influence that Christians were having. In societies where denunciators were commonplace, people who attempted to find alternative forms of living always have had dire problems with persecution. What Paul had once optimistically thought as being a means to win over some of the Jews, became at later stages the cause of massive oppression and the mass murder of many Christians. Ironically, the Christians did the same to the Jews later in history.
The message that Paul took on from Jesus, was that the Church was to be good to and pray for the non-Christian neighbours, showing that there was nothing subversive (at least for the people) about their mission. But jealousy obviously also played a role and clearly not all Christians could keep up their façade. Much of Paul’s ranting was directed at people who were compromising the Church in their precarious position within society, which explains how he sometimes “lost his rag.â€
The Church has compromised itself on numerous occasions since then and has sometimes caused untold misery for countless people. As long as the Church enjoyed a certain status within society, this situation could remain hidden without implications. In our time and at least in Europe, this status is dwindling. The implications are as I described above: We are starting to sell the silver.
I wonder whether we will manage to find our way back to that lonely Prophet of whom we claim to be followers. Or perhaps God is waiting for someone to stand up and be that Prophet in our times … ?
Shalom