Word to the Wise
Friday, May 2, 2014 - 2nd Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 5:34-42 and John 6:1-15,]When the people saw the sign he ha done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world." Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
Jesus did not work in a political "vacuum." Faith and politics are intimately related in the Middle East, as we know from watching the news every day. In Jesus' time the situation was complicated by the presence of the Romans because Augustus Caesar was regarded by them as "savior of the world" and emperor of all! As the passage in today's first scripture from the Acts of the Apostles points out, the Romans were not about to allow any rebellion against their rule. Gamaliel refers to at least two attempts that were well known to the Sanhedrin and to the public. Later on, after Jesus' time, the Romans utterly crushed a Jewish rebellion in 66-70 AD and 135 AD, and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, replacing it with a Roman city!! So, when Jesus sees that his compassionate action in feeding the crowd is about to result in a political riot, the safest thing to do is get away from it! His mission is not a political one! Later on, he will try to make that clear to a skeptical Pontius Pilate, who seemed willing to believe him.
We Americans get a little uneasy when the tension between our political civil religion and our Christian or Jewish or Islamic or other religious beliefs gets difficult. Right now Catholic health care institutions are battling a "decree from Caesar" about providing contraceptive services to employees. Certain bishops in our country have advocated excommunicating Catholic politicians who vote for laws that seem to contradict Catholic moral teaching. Prominent religious leaders know that there is a temptation to "power" that can lead them into the political spotlight. Politicians, on the other hand, know that religious folks are very likely to be voting folks!
Political powers often forget that they come and go and that Christian, Jewish and other great religious movements have been around a lot longer than the western liberal democratic traditions espoused by English law and the French Revolution. Perhaps standing up for one's faith may land us in jail, but that punishment is not eternal! One can only pray that it doesn't come to such things here very often, but in other parts of the world, just being Christian can cost a person his or her very life! Jesus' mission was a peaceful one. We humans have a tough time getting that straight! AMEN