THE CHURCH IS NOT AFTER POLITICAL POWER
Up to the end, the Apostles were concerned with earthly matters and striving for political power. However, Jesus did not come for political power, and his mission was not to establish an earthly kingdom, or a super-state, in which he would be the ruler of the world and his close friends would have the top positions in the political establishment.
To his disciples he entrusted his own mission: to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God, which is a message of reconciliation, of peace, of justice, of life and of salvation. The Church was not given a political mission and she does not aspire to political power. The leaders of the Church, even when they try, are never good political leaders. We should not fall in the trap and the illusion of thinking that if the religious leaders were the rulers of the world, the world would be better. They would corrupt both the religious and the political order.
The Church’s mission is to be Jesus’ witnesses up to the end of the earth (Act 1:8), proclaiming his good news and facilitating the encounter with Jesus, so that in him all may find salvation and life. However, the Church’s mission has political implications, even though is not political. Faith is concerned with the whole life and cannot be hidden in the secrets of the heart or reduced to the privacy of the house. In order to go to heaven, Christians have to direct their attention and set their hearts on the daily realities of their own lives and the realities of the world in which they live. That’s why the angels told the Apostles: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?” (Act 1:11). Faith in Jesus Christ leads to look at the reality around us and to work for its transformation so that it becomes more and more according to God’s plans and will.
No comments:
Post a Comment