“VIOLENCE” IN GOD’S NAME

“They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God”.

The above statement, taken from the Gospel of John (16:2), confronts us with one of the most painful and paradoxical contradictions of faith experience: violence perpetrated in the name of God. Jesus’ words today come as a warning to His disciples about difficult times, but also as a scalpel that digs into the depths of religious consciousness. “Whoever kills you will think he is offering worship to God.” This sentence leaves us dismayed. How can the act of taking life—the most sacred gift—be mistaken for an act of worship towards the Creator? Yet, Jesus warns us that evil does not always present itself with the dark face of open hatred; sometimes it wears the mask of religious duty, of the defense of “truth,” of the protection of the institution.

A God in our image

How do people persecute others in the name of God? Why does this happen? Jesus explains immediately afterwards: “They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me” (John 16:3). This is the root of the tragedy: one can speak of God without knowing Him. We can be zealous defenders of the “synagogue” (the Church), of traditions, or of doctrine, yet be totally distant from the heart of the Father.

The case of Saul (Acts 9) is a concrete example. In his zeal, Saul went about persecuting and killing the followers of the “Way” (believers in Jesus Christ), thinking that he was defending the tradition of his fathers and thereby honoring God. Saul’s zeal was grounded in tradition, not in truth. His zeal was sincere, but misguided. Saul himself has to confess this when he said: “For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Galatians 1:13-14).

We can, sometimes, find ourselves acting like Saul. We can be zealous for God, but our zeal is not based on knowledge (Romans 10:2) and love. When we forget that God is Love, we transform Him into an idol that serves to justify our rejection and closure. “Worship” then becomes a projection of our selfishness.

“Household” Persecution

Jesus says: “They will expel you from the synagogues.” He is not speaking of distant enemies, but of the internal or household enemies. Here, we can think of the suffering of those marginalised by the very community that should welcome them. This challenges us today: how often do we use our faith as a weapon of exclusion? How often do we believe we are serving God by pointing the finger at the brother who doesn’t fit our mindset, ending up “killing” his dignity or his hope with our judgment? How often have our “overzealous attitudes”, often judgmental in nature, forced some people out of the parish community?

True Knowledge of God

Today, we ask for the grace of a true knowledge of God. May our worship not be one of external rites or barriers raised against others, but a worship “in spirit and truth.” The only way to truly honor God is to love what He loves: humanity, every human being. There is no glory for God that arises from the suffering of our brothers and sisters. May the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, help us always to recognize the face of Christ in those who are persecuted, and never to become—not even in words—the “persecutors” of our brothers and sisters in faith.

[Readings: Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26—16:4a]