A Catholic friend recently sent
me a link to an article about the church—the Catholic Church, in this
case—in which the writer asserted two things.
First, from a Christian point of view, the church “is the only refuge and sanctuary in a
world of darkness and sin.”
Second, that the church is “not a human
institution.”
My friend asked me what I thought about the
article. Here’s what I told him.
I started by thanking him for the query; I have been meaning for some time to work
through my ideas about the church—be that Protestant, Catholic or anything
in-between.
I told my friend that the author was right on
the first point: For Christians the church is a refuge and a sanctuary.
On the second point, he’s wrong, I said. The church,
as it has been known it for over 2,000 years, is obviously a human institution.
It was made by people, for people, and
reflects the ideas, politics, cultures and history of those who made the
various expressions of what we call “church.”
But wait, you say—what about the words of
Jesus in Matthew? You know, the ones where he says to Peter “On this rock I
will build my church”?
Well, since you raised it (!), let’s take a
look at that passage.
As it turns out, there are only two times in the Bible when we read that Jesus
used the word “church.”
Both are in Matthew. The passage above from 16:18
and “tell it to the church” (18:17).
In both cases, we have no idea what word Jesus
actually used in those verses.
He most certainly didn’t use the word “church,”
since that’s an English word—and as we all know, Jesus didn’t speak English!
Jesus spoke Aramaic, and Matthew is
written in Greek. What scholars believe is that Matthew, writing down what
others said Jesus had said, used the Greek word “ekklesia” as the best way to interpret what people said Jesus had said
in Aramaic.
(Why do I keep saying “what Jesus had said”?
Because Matthew was written 50-80 years after Jesus was crucified and
resurrected. At best, he is getting his information second or third hand.)
Ekklesia, the word Matthew used, means “the people” or “the assembly.”
(It also has a meaning suggesting to be called out of and into a new group of
people.)
Over time, we have come to interpret that word as “the church” or “the
congregation.”
As I understand it—and I’m no biblical scholar!—ekklesia means a group of people coming
together for a common cause or towards a common goal.
For that group of people to have maximum
impact and influence, and to pay the bills (rent, pastor, etc.), it needs to be
organized, to become an institution.
And that is done by people.
In other words, what we call the church today is far from what Jesus would have imagined, although he
certainly would have understood how the synagogue and temple operated, along
with all their internal politics, power struggles and disputes over doctrine
and practice.
Which isn’t to say that the church isn’t real,
or that God doesn’t use it. It’s just that the forms given to it over time are
human constructs—and often very imperfect at that.
The Catholic Church is a good example of this.
Often, when I observe what happens in the Vatican, I get an idea of what a monarchy would have looked like in the middle ages, what with an absolute ruler, edicts, total control over the
fate of its citizens, and its court. (Cardinals are called the “princes of the
church,” after all).
It even has its own army!
At the end of the day, for me the church is a mystery. It is both
human and divine, although all too often the divine part is easily lost in
the squabbles, fighting, arguments and occasional criminality.
I like how Frederick
Buechner describes the church in his book Wishful
Thinking:
“The visible church is all the people who get
together from time to time in God's name. Anybody can find out who they are by
going to church to look.
“The invisible church is all the people God uses
for his hands and feet in this world. Nobody can find out who they are except
God.
“Think of them as two circles. The optimist says
they are concentric. The cynic says they don't even touch. The realist says
they occasionally overlap.”
He also said the church is like Noah’s Ark: If
it wasn’t for the storm outside you wouldn’t be able to stand the stink inside.
But we can leave that for another day!
