At the time Jesus was crucified, Christianity was an
insignificant Jewish sect, centered around the city of Jerusalem. Soon
after, the Disciples did as Jesus had told them and went to a mountain top in
Galilee, where they encountered Jesus again. There, Jesus told them:
"All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me.
Therefore, go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely
I am with you always, to the
very end of the
age." (Matthew 28: 18 - 20)
Down through the centuries, this directive became known as
"The Great Commission," and it has been the inspiration for
missionaries and teachers of many Christian denominations. Indeed, the
Disciples Peter and Paul, and others who believed in what Jesus taught, took
risky journeys among the Gentiles to teach and preach about Jesus.
Christianity eventually became the standard for the Roman Empire, and much of
Europe and the Middle East were converted.
With my somewhat simplistic knowledge of the spread of the
Faith, I was surprised when I read recently that the Middle East ---- the place
where Christianity began, seems now to be moving in the opposite direction.
In a recent issue of the Christian Science Monitor Weekly,
there was a lengthy article entitled "A Middle East Without Christians?"
The author was a Monitor staff writer, reporting from Bethlehem, In the West
Bank. She wrote, "Two thousand years after the birth of Jesus,
Christianity is under assault in the Holy Land and across the entire Middle
East, more than at any time in the past century." She quotes some
informed observers as speculating that one of the world's three great religions
could vanish entirely from the Middle East region within a generation or two.
The Monitor staff writer continues: "From Iraq,
which has lost at least half of its Christians over the past decade, to Egypt,
which saw the worst spate of anti-Christian violence in 700 years in the summer
of 2012, to Syria, where jihadists are killing Christians and burying them in
mass graves, the followers of Jesus face violence, declining churches and
ecumenical divides. Today, fewer than 500,000 Christians remain in Iraq
from a prewar population of between one million and 1.4 million. As many
as 450,000 of the 2 million refugees fleeing Syria today are Christians.
Christians now make up only 5% of the population of the Middle East, down from
20% a century ago."
Historians tell us that there have been many cycles of
Christian persecution and prosperity over the centuries. But those who
study these trends see four major differences between the problems Christians
face today in the Middle East, and those of the past ----
1.) Jihadist groups have access to weapons today on a scale unknown in history. The Disciples of Jesus were not confronted with road-side bombing and aircraft attacks. The ability to kill and injure one's enemy has been much "perfected" since Jesus' time.
2.) Propaganda can be spread today more easily by the enemies of Christianity, than ever before. In the time of Jesus, family tradition determined life values for most people. Today, values are taught subtly on cell phones, T.V. and other media, which often devalue tradition.
3.) Because of Western military involvement in the Middle East, local Christian communities are more easily accused of disloyalty to their own society, given the assumption that their loyalty would be to the West.
4.) It would seem that today's social and religious attitudes in the Middle East are more extremely "black" and "white" than perhaps they were in the time of Jesus. The Bible notes there were certain tribes and classes of people with which one did not associate. Today in the Middle East, members of different tribes, classes or faiths may be strongly "encouraged" by some extremists to adopt the Muslim faith or be punished with death. Sometimes, in the Middle East today, one's religion is the primary test to qualify for a particular job, not whether one is qualified to do the job.
For those Christians whose families literally lived in the
recent turmoil of the Middle East, what would Jesus tell them to do? We
know from Matthew 5:44 that Jesus told his Disciples, "Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you." It would seem that confrontation
with members of other "tribes" is not what Jesus had in mind, even
two thousand years ago. Today, perhaps the only way to avoid such
confrontation with those from another "tribe" is to move
physically to a safer place ---- to seek asylum in another
country. That is what much of the population of Syria has already done,
including many non-Christians.
So, what is our role if we are to stand behind refugees
seeking asylum in our country? Perhaps Jesus would say it is to welcome
them, feed them, educate their children, help them obtain jobs, and guide them
in their new culture to become self-sufficient, contributing citizens.
Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan? A
traveler came upon an injured man on the side of the road. But the man
was not of the traveler's "tribe". Nevertheless, the traveler
cared generously for the injured man. Could Jesus be saying that we are
called to do the same for our neighbors to the south who journey hopefully to
the U.S. for asylum?
___________________________________________________________________________
These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
spiritual growth this summer at CPC.
___________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment