As I walk…
This week in bible study the minister posed the following question: What would your response be if the authorities suddenly made an arbitrary decision to limit a freedom you enjoyed? For example, if suddenly the government announced the closure of your hospital and changed its status to a health centre.
Would you argue? How far would you go? Would you chain yourself to the doors? Would you go on a hunger strike? Would you lie down in front of the trucks taking away the hospital beds? Would you travel to Fredericton and engage in civil disobedience or destruction of property? Would you sacrifice your life for something that you believed in?
How much would you lose to prove a point? Your job? Your friends? Your family?
Is how much you’re willing to give up inversely related to your circumstances? If you have nothing left to lose, is it easier to give it all up?
These are demanding questions. This is tough. How far do we push things? Are we too comfortable? Do the people in authority recognize this and use it against us? They know we whine and groan, but in the end, we capitulate. We rationalize our actions away- our adversary is too strong, we are two few, it’s going to happen sooner or later etc..
The lectionary reading this week was from Acts 7:55-60, the stoning of Stephen. Stephen was among the first “deacons” of the early church, appointed to help in the ministry. He gets into an argument with the Jewish religious leaders, and they do not like to be taken to task. His inconvenient truths leads to his death by capital punishment, in this case by stoning. He was not willing to walk away from his faith and became the first martyr for the new church.
Speaking truth to power can be hazardous to your person. Stoning is a nasty, terrible death. The modern version is still carried out in some parts of the world today (see below for link).
How far are we willing to go to defend our beliefs?
Further to this theme, I find the new Pope, Francis, an interesting, contemporary religious leader, who is making waves within his Church.
He is saying and doing some inconvenient things. He is not living in the “official” residence. He prefers to drive a modest, obsolete car. He wears simple clothes. He thinks the “church” is too rich and that there are too many poor people and would prefer a “poor church for the poor”.
What is amazing about all of this is that is exactly what he should be saying- but we find it odd- because so few church leaders make a point of saying it!
We can only wish the Pope our best. There are powerful interests that he is confronting and we can only pray th
at in speaking truth to power does not impair his papacy. The more things change, the more they stay the sam
e. This was true in Stephen’s time and remains so in Francis’s time.
Un Recipiente Vacio
Graphic: Anatomy of a Stoning in Iran
http://www.artbible.info/images/rembrandt_steniging_stefanus_grt.jpg
