This was written for the Express and Echo, but was edited hugely!
This article was intended for last week's Express and Echo. My Dad noticed that I made even less sense than usual! Here's what it was meant to say!
Protest is a word that’s being used a lot at the moment. The Occupiers on the Cathedral Green are being told to move as I write. Also, it’s the first anniversary of those in Egypt who stood up against the President and caused his government to fall, and just recently we have seen the worker’s unions moving to voice their concerns about public sector changes. Often, protest movements call upon examples of great women and men who have fought injustice, or cynicism, or even violence and have triumphed in their cause. We can think of numerous examples, and we are grateful for those people’s examples and determination in the face of huge pressure and difficulty.
Almost everything that Jesus did was an active protest against some way of life, unnecessary law or misunderstanding of what “doing good” actually meant. Throughout his life, he encountered lots and lots of people (and these are only the incidents recorded in the four gospels) who attempted to correct what he did, or how he did it. So, when he accepted the downtrodden and hated as friends, he was roundly criticised. When he did what he could to make the sick better, he was told that he couldn’t do it in that particular way. When he spoke about his thoughts and beliefs, it was called blasphemy.
When we see protest, or protesters, or even people whose way of life we struggle to deal with, it’s very easy to get drawn in by our own understandings and prejudices when it comes to making decisions about our own opinions on the cause or complaint. I certainly do this very happily on numerous occasions, and have to try to not get carried away. But Jesus’ message and life shows us (at least) two things; firstly, he believes that it’s the reasons that we do something that are most important and secondly, just because the world hates someone and their actions, it doesn’t mean that the hated minority is the one in the wrong.
My point here isn’t to side with one particular protest group or another; you can and will make up your own minds, and this isn’t the place for me to persuade you. However, Jesus is the perfect example of how we must examine the cause itself, rather than dismiss because we don’t agree with or like how the protest is taking place. When Jesus was executed so brutally by the Roman Empire, he is recorded as saying of his executioners and those who mocked and taunted him, that “they don’t understand what they’re doing”. I hope that when the time comes and I am shown my mistakes, that those who I have misunderstood, and the causes that I have not supported, and the people that I have not helped, similarly show me enough grace to understand that I didn’t know what I was doing. Here’s to a better world where we judge on others intentions, not on our own feelings.
