Bible Study: Acts 7, 55 to 60.
Revelation 22, 12 to 20 and John 17, 20 to 26.
In the wake of several attacks against Christians in very recent
times in this country, time has come for us to face certain hard truths for ourselves.
And one of these hard truths is the fact that we are NOT UNITED. The divisions
that exist within Christendom as a religion of its own are far greater and far
more complex that those that divide Christians from adherents of other
religion.
And as if this is not enough, we are not just divided, we
basically fight each other constantly, trying to prove to one another that we
are the sole owners of the truth or that we alone have the keys to heaven. It is
not enough that we do all we can to discredit our fellow Christians on issues
of doctrine and so on, we are actually extremely jealous of each other. It is
like we enjoy seeing our fellow Christians go down just to prove that we were
right after all.
Today’s first reading captures the nature of this scandal of
disunity. And it goes to show that the walls of division among Christians go
all the way to the very beginning of Christianity itself. Why was Stephen
stoned to death? Was it because he said he saw heaven opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God? First, you must ask, what brought him before
the tribunal? Wasn’t it the jealousy and false accusation by his fellow
Christians?
Let us read for ourselves beginning from Acts 6, verse 1. It all
started when the Hellenistic Christians complained that their widows were being
cheated in the daily distribution of food. To solve the problem, the apostles
needed to ordain seven men of good repute who would assist in the distribution
while they focus on prayer and the ministry of the word. One of those chosen
was Stephen.
Stephen, however had a gift. He wasn’t just serving at tables,
he could perform miracles and God used him to do great wonders among the
people. This was where his problem began. Some men from the synagogue of
Freedmen, from Cilicia and Asia arose and disputed with Stephen but they could
not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
Instead of them to accord Stephen the respect he truly deserved
and just let him be, instead of them to recognise the presence of the Holy
Spirit in him and consider him as their teacher, they secretly instigated men
to lie against him saying: “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against
Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and scribes, and
they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council and set up
false witnesses who said: “This man never ceases to speak words against this
holy place and the law.”
Is this behaviour not characteristic of Christians today?
And guess what, when we Christians fight each other, we end up presenting
ourselves before non-Christians to pass judgement! This is exactly what happened
to Stephen. He was chosen from a Christian community to serve Christians and
when out of jealousy he was falsely accused, he was presented before a Jewish
tribunal. The Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and so, after
all that Stephen had say, the moment he mentioned seeing Jesus standing at the
right hand of God in heaven, it was just too much for the Jews to swallow. That
was when they rushed at him, cast him out of the city and stoned him to death.
If Stephen had said the same thing before his fellow Christians,
it would have been a course for rejoicing and no one would have had to stone
him for it. Otherwise, what is the difference between what Stephen said and
what we read in the second reading? Did anybody stone John for writing his
visions in a book he called the Revelations? Aren’t we glad to read what he saw
in his visions?
How many Christians today are being sacrificed on the altar of
politics by their fellow Christians in this country? How many are being used as
scape goats and made to face the wrath of non-Christians? I once saw an article
written by a Christian convert wherein he analyses the evils Christians mete
out to each other in the name of making money or scoring electioneering points
and he used the phrase “useful idiots” in describing the actions of such
Christians. For him, they are useful in the sense that adherents of other
religions need them as pawns in the game but they are also idiots in the sense
that they do not know their actions ultimately lead to the destruction of the Christian
faith itself.
When are we Christians going to start seeing ourselves as
brothers and sisters? When are we going to allow the prayer of Jesus in today’s
Gospel passage come to pass? When are we ever going to be one? Even Jesus himself
tells us: “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And
if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Mark
3, 24 to 25.
Disunity is a scandal. It is a free weapon in the hands of the
enemy. Students of colonial history will tell us that the success of the
British Colonialism in this country was simply based on the principle of divide
and rule. Or do we talk about Rwanda? Many have written articles about how
Christianity was wiped out of North Africa many years ago and how fully
Christian nations became Islamic nations. It is important to mention that
disunity played a key role. There were great factions in the church itself as a
result of heresies (distortions in doctrines by persons who just wanted to be
popular). And when we take an honest look at the factions and walls that exist
in Christianity in this country, we cannot but see history repeating itself.
The question is not “what led us to this point?” I think the
real question we should be asking ourselves today is “What is the solution?”
It all begins from home. It all begins right here. Let this
ethnic issues cease within the church. Let this rivalry between charismatic and
non-charismatic cease. Let this issue of son-of-the-soil-must-be-bishop cease. Let
this issue of favouring one language over and above other languages cease. If we
cannot be one within a station, or within a group or a society within the
church, how can we be one within a parish, how then can we be one within a diocese,
or within a province or within a church not to mention being one with non-Catholics?
Yes, we have a long way to go but I say the journey of a
thousand miles begins with a step. Take that step today.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, use me to bring your prayer to reality
that I may be an instrument of unity wherever I find myself. Amen.
God bless you. Good morning. Be
Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.
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