The story of the last few days of Jesus’ life, and what followed, is the story of a popular preacher who brought healing, forgiveness and an exciting new way of living to those who heard him. Together with a band of followers he made his way to the holy city to join in the high festival there. But a few days after he arrived, he was arrested by the temple police, tried on a charge of blasphemy and sedition, and sentenced to death. Execution was carried out by the horrific method of crucifixion, an agonising form of death by torture which often took days to kill the victim.
Many people hearing this story are bewildered by the hatred that Jesus aroused. How could it be, that even the religious authorities hated him so much, when he was really on their side, teaching the truth about God and bringing people to love God in a new way and change their lives?
The answer, of course, is that they knew that Jesus threatened their position, and the entrenched beliefs that kept them in office. They could only command the power and wealth they enjoyed, because they had a monopoly on God. They were the official and sole purveyors of religion, and it was only through them that people could gain access to the benefits and blessings of faith. Jesus undermined all this by teaching that God was a heavenly Father who loved all people indiscriminately - not just the religious ones - and by opening the way for all people to have access to God.
I asked myself similar questions recently, when the Archbishop of Canterbury was in the news for his lecture on Civil and religious law in England, a long and scholarly lecture of which the only detail that got reported was the suggestion that some aspects of sharia law might be “unavoidable” in the UK. The Archbishop’s words were generally misrepresented, and as a result he was widely condemned and vilified in the media, and by sections of the public. Why do the media hate the Archbishop of Canterbury so much? Why is it that whenever he says anything remotely difficult or controversial, it has become open season for the media hounds to be sent out with hue and cry to savage him? Again and again we are given the impression that here is a man who is so unworldly and naive that he cannot avoid being out of touch with reality, irrelevant, foolish, and all points beyond, even as far as stupid and half barmy.
In fact many people recognise that Rowan Williams has one of the finest minds in Britain today. He is immensely intelligent, awesomely learned, and more than that he is a man of deep faith and humility, who is sustained in an impossible job by the warmth of his home and family life, and by the sincerity of his personal prayer. He has published several volumes of poetry. He is loved by millions of Anglicans who know him better than the way the media portray him.
Why do the media hate him so much? For the same kinds of reasons as Jesus was hated: because he threatens their power and their entrenched beliefs. The media don’t want people to think for themselves; they want to manipulate their readers or viewers into thinking what the media tell them. The media have already made up their minds that religion is all nonsense, and that religious people are stupid, bigoted and irrational. They delight in reports of fanatical zealotry, squabbles and disunity among believers, and indeed anything that brings the name of religion into disrepute. Any story about an intelligent faith that preaches tolerance and understanding, or about religious leaders who seek greater respect between faith communities, risks being simply ignored, or so misreported that it fits into the preferred media style of the debunking of religion. In doing this last month, the media played cynically on the widespread ignorance, prejudice and Islamophobia of many sections of the British public, and may indeed have broken the law against inciting religious hatred. It was a shaming experience for those of us who, in the past, have believed in the impartiality and fairness of the British media. Clearly these have fallen victim to the present climate of ignorance.
I’m sure Archbishop Rowan would shrink from any comparison between the way he was treated by the media, and the Passion of Christ. But it’s worth reflecting that the story of Holy Week and Easter tells us that God’s truth, and God’s way, cannot be defeated by the hatred of the wicked and powerful. The last word is always “on the third day”, when out of weakness, suffering, defeat and death, God brings his victory. The stone is rolled from the mouth of the tomb, and what was imprisoned there bursts forth to change the world. The truth of God. A way of life and love that can never be silenced, or defeated.
Published in the Marston Times, March 2008