Philip Yancey, in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew tells a tragic, heart-wrenching story related to him by a friend. This friend worked with the homeless and street people of Chicago.
One day a woman approached him asking for help. The woman lived on the streets and made her living on the streets. She needed money to feed her two-year daughter.
She suddenly broke down and began to pour out her heart. She admitted to the shameful things she’d done in her life and to her daughter to make money—not to buy food, but to support her drug habit.
Yancey’s friend had heard many horrific stories doing mission on the streets. This story shocked him. Once he finally regained his balance, he asked the woman if she had ever considered going to a church for help.
This time it was the woman’s turn to be shocked. She said:
Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.
Hypocritical.
Judgmental.
Mean.
Condemning.
Holier-than-thou.
These are just a few of the criticisms leveled at the Church.
And you don’t have to look far to find the evidence:
Sexual scandals and abuse perpetrated by and covered up by the Church
Christians shunning people and trying to deny them their rights if their beliefs or lifestyles don’t align with those of church-goers
Acting one way on Sunday morning and the opposite way the rest of the week
Creating hoops to jump through and rules for people to adhere to in order to attend church
The blurred lines between the Church and a particular political party or ideology
Pastors buying private jets with cash donated by their parishioners
The history of the Church doesn’t help.
The (very oversimplified) story of the Christian movement is one of Christian leaders seeking power, obtaining power, being corrupted by power, and then abusing that power.
We see it in the abuse of the Inquisition, where the Church tried to force people to become Christians or die.
We see it in the abuse of Indulgences, where essentially Christian leaders lied by promising that if people gave more money to the Church they would spend less time in Purgatory (hell, not the ski resort!).
We see it in the demeaning of women, not allowing them into leadership roles in the Church.
And the list goes on and on.
The Church has provided—and continues to provide—an easy excuse for writing off all of Christianity.
And that’s exactly what many people are doing. In fact, it’s become somewhat of a spiritual badge of honor to say, I believe in Jesus but not the Church.
Which leads to the question, How can Jesus, after 2000 years of disfunction and abuse, still love the Church?
One could image that by now Jesus has had enough.
Certainly, many of his followers have.
Yet, surprisingly, if not shockingly Jesus holds a high view of the Church!
The Bible calls the Church, The Body of Christ, suggesting that Jesus has tied himself and his reputation to the Church.
The Bible calls the Church, The Bride of Christ, reminding us that Jesus gave his life for her.
It’s a head scratcher.
But if you know anything about Jesus, it won’t come as a surprise at all. In fact, his commitment to the Church goes to the very heart of the Gospel.
More next time.
You can reach me at Tim@TimWrightMinistries.org