by Gary McHale
April 20, 2011
People have not changed much in 2000 years. The Pharisees and community leaders were extremely unhappy that Jesus, a man from Bethlehem, was travelling from town to town creating division and unrest by his preaching and by his mere presence. They stated, "Can anything good come from Bethlehem".
Easter isn't about chocolates or eggs or about having a long weekend.
It is about the ultimate interloper - Jesus, the Son of God, who didn't just travel 15 minutes from a nearby town to speak out about the issues of the day. He came to expose corruption both in the religious system of the day and the corruption within each of our hearts.
Easter is about how the leadership conspired to stop Jesus from speaking out and to bring an end to his mission of traveling from town to town. They weren't interested in the truth nor about improving the human condition. For many people, especially anyone in a leadership role, it is the status quo that is important. For these people the ultimate sin is for anyone to confront the status quo.
This has been true throughout human history. It took William Wilberforce 26 years, as a member of British Parliament, to bring an end to slavery within the British Commonwealth. The problem was too many businesses were making too much money from slavery. You have the ship builders who employed thousands of workers, the sugar plantations that purchased slaves to maximize profits and those in high society who benefited from the increased wealth.
To leadership and to those with money it is always about the status quo and never about the victims of injustice. People today wonder how people could own slaves, how crowds could watch people being fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum, how prisoners could be brutalized, how families could be starved, how children could be forced to work in mines, how women could be treated as property, how Germans allowed Nazi death camps, etc.
The answer is quite simply that people forget so quickly to be their "brother's keeper". We forget to be the Good Samaritans who care more about their fellowmen than their next business appointment. We can become so self-adsorbed that we overlook the suffering of others.
It was Hudson Taylor who travelled to China as a missionary. He confronted the status quo of their society which forced young girls to bind their feet to keep them small - the practice crippled many woman. In 1597 twenty six Christian interlopers were crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. From 1820 to 1884 hundreds of missionaries (interlopers) were put to death in India. This newspaper isn't large enough to contain the names of the interlopers who have died in the past ten years trying to help strangers.
The Apostle Paul travelled more widely than Jesus and created conflict everywhere he went. In Ephesus the business owners rioted against Paul because he was costing them too much income due to his preaching. Although it was the business community that rioted it was Paul who was imprisoned. Paul stated, "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned."
In 1963 local church leaders issued a public statement calling for "an appeal for law and order and common sense in dealing with racial problems in Alabama" as they denounced the "outsider" Martin Luther King Jr. They stated, "we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders... we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely... however technically peaceful those actions may be, they have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems... When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets."
Since 2002 155 interlopers (Canadian Forces personnel) have been brought home in body bags. These people paid a price to ensure that strangers could have freedom. They could have ignored the call, they could have committed their lives to getting a big house or establishing a profitable business but they decided that the wellbeing of their fellowmen was more important.
Little has changed from the day when the crowd screamed out "crucify him" referring to Jesus. After all, just a few days before his crucifixion Jesus whipped the money changers out of the temple - certainly not the way to make friends and influence people. The business community was making a fortune from all the travelers coming to Jerusalem who were also forced to exchange their money for animals to sacrifice in the temple - of course at unreasonable rates. What Jesus proclaimed they had turned the "House of God into a den of thieves". Confronting people about how they are ripping off their neighbour creates enemies.
When Jesus refused to go along with the stoning of a woman who was caught committing adultery it didn't help him win any friends among the radicals. Telling the Rich Young Ruler to sell his goods and give the money to the poor didn't go over well with the wealthy. Healing someone on the Sabbath almost got him stoned more than once.
This Easter do more than spend time with your family and give chocolates to your children. Remember the reason why Christians celebrate Easter - that God sent the "outsider", the "Interloper" Jesus to confront the corruption in our hearts in order to bring lasting peace not false peace.
He challenged the status quo so that we could address the underlining issues of life - why are we here and what does God expect of us?
One would think society could overlook and ignore the interlopers but throughout human history such people create temporary turmoil in order to bring a greater peace to society. These interlopers will not sell out their principles nor will they surrender their beliefs. Kill them, mock them and curse them but you cannot ignore them.
In the end, we live in a world of freedom due to the interlopers who refuse to give up.