Do Not Expel

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.” (John 15:26-16:4)

Of course, those who believed Jesus was the Savior were expelled from the synagogue.  That was inconsistent and contrary to Jewish belief.  One should not criticize the Jews for that attitude.  It would be like we Catholics consistently worshiping at CTK with those who don’t believe in the eucharist.  They are entitled to their belief, but how do we worship together under one roof as one community?

Unlike in Jesus’ day we don’t have to worry about the implications of “the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.”  Then again, when we look around the world at other regions and other faiths, persecution and killing Catholics is not unusual.  Similarly, throughout our Catholic history, those who would not worship as us were killed, tortured, or expelled.  We Catholics are not innocent of such atrocities.  

Just think of the 30-years’ war of Europe – that 17th-century religious conflict fought primarily in central Europe. According to www.history.com, it was one of the longest and most brutal wars in human history, with more than 8 million casualties resulting from military battles as well as from the famine and disease caused by the conflict. The war lasted from 1618 to 1648, starting as a battle among the Catholic and Protestant states that formed the Holy Roman Empire.  This war radically altered the balance of power in Europe and resulted in reduced influence over political affairs for the Catholic Church, as well as other religious groups.

As brutal as the fighting was in the Thirty Years’ War, hundreds of thousands died as a result of famine caused by the conflict as well as an epidemic of typhus, a disease that spread rapidly in areas particularly torn apart by the violence. 

Historians also believe the first European witch hunts began during the war, as a suspicious populace attributed the suffering throughout Europe at the time to “spiritual” causes. The war also fostered a fear of the “other” in communities across the European continent and caused an increased distrust among those of different ethnicities and religious faiths – sentiments that persist to some degree to this day, again all according to www.history.com. (end)

We must remember what Jesus told us such as: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust,” and “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

These are tall orders, but necessary for us to avoid the “wars” we can cause within our communities and even within our own families.  No one should expelled.

Deacon David Pierce