A Shameful Silence
When I was at school in the late 1950s, a Jewish friend – I remember his name to this day – suffered appalling antisemitic abuse. Of course, I rushed to his defence, single-handedly fighting the abusers.
In fact, spotty little rat that I was, I did no such thing. I pretended I agreed with the abusers and left him friendless and slowly twisting in the wind.
Later, aged 18, I shared a room with a Rhodesian cadet at RMA Sandhurst who was violently racist. I recall his name and the vile things he said about Black people but, once again, I’m ashamed to say I said nothing.
I was also exposed to “soft” prejudice. An aunt who dealt with theatre companies used to say, “Now, so-and-so (I remember his name as well, funny that after all these years) is a ‘nice’ Jew” – the implication being that all the others weren’t nice!
It’s less obvious now, but antisemitism is back again. All those marches against Israel. None against Iran, Burma or the suppression of freedom in Hong Kong. Funny that. Emotion only seems to erupt into hostile marches when Jews are involved. Antisemitic prejudice is a very light sleeper.
Racial prejudice and antisemitism dehumanise people. They are a refuge for the ignorant, seeking to degrade and destroy. They are the enemies of freedom and deserve to be met head-on and stamped out.
Meek and Mild
How many of you think church is boring? Is Jesus meek and mild?
In John 2:15–16, Jesus makes a whip out of cords and drives the sheep and oxen from the temple. Then he exclaims to the dove sellers, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my father’s house into a market?”
Sometimes God wants us to get angry. Often the status quo needs challenging. Jesus lost his temper over the misuse of his Father’s house. What does this teach us today?
The people who criticised Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being boring. On the contrary, they thought he was too dynamic and challenging to be safe. It’s been left to many churches to muffle that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah and certified him as “meek and mild”, recommending him as a suitable household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.
