Today we observe the “Fourth Sunday of Easter,” but it could also be called “Politically Incorrect Sunday.” In the first reading we hear St Peter make a proclamation which has offended people for centuries—especially in recent generations when relativism reigns supreme. Peter, speaking about Jesus, proclaims, “and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now if there is a statement that is designed to offend many current sensibilities it is that for too many of the opinion formers and self-appointed elite in our society these words would seem narrow and intolerant. There is no way that you can put a different emphasis on that statement. Peter is saying plainly that the ONLY way to be saved and enter into Heaven is through Jesus Christ.
The claim that Jesus is the only path to salvation is why Christianity is offensive to many people and has been since the beginning. Whenever Christians point out this claim of exclusivity, people are outraged, and accuse us of saying that we are the only one's with the truth or that all other religions are wrong.
The claim that Jesus is the only path to salvation is why Christianity is offensive to many people and has been since the beginning. Whenever Christians point out this claim of exclusivity, people are outraged, and accuse us of saying that we are the only one's with the truth or that all other religions are wrong.
A couple of points should be noted. First, Christians didn’t invent this doctrine; Jesus himself did. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Although it is interesting that the final part of that has been dropped from the Common Worship Funeral Rite, although not in these parishes.
Don’t shoot the messenger is a common defence for someone who has to impart news that the hearer will find offensive. The Church cannot state any other than this claim of Jesus if she is to be his true servant. If individual people find this claim offensive they can take it up with Jesus Himself. But we should all note that, if God is really God, then He has every right to offer the world salvation via one path or via many paths. He also has the right not to offer this sinful world salvation at all. Thankfully He did offer it salvation, and apparently He chose one path. Mr Blair has recently suggested to the Pope that the Church should get with the times and change its moral teaching – unfortunately, he has once again shown his ignorance and failed to realise that the path he advocates has been taken by the Anglican Church in the USA to its own ruin. The message cannot be changed because the Church is called to proclaim the Truth that is Jesus Christ and the Gospel message he came to announce.
However, we should note that when Peter proclaims that “there is salvation in no one else,” he is not saying, “There is no salvation through any other denomination but mine.” Many Christians have seemingly transformed what Jesus meant into a rigorous defence of their own denomination or worse their own understanding of the Truth. I well remember a Pentecostal Minister bemoaning the fact that the few denominations that he knew as a child (and that was bad enough, he said) had proliferated into all manner of little groups each seemingly acting more and more suspiciously towards one another. He saw it as symptomatic of an all too human failing: that of a hankering after leadership.
At Walsingham on Retreat in 2006 at mealtimes I was surrounded by members of the Union of Catholic Mothers – noting my wedding ring one of them asked if I was Catholic or Anglican. I replied that I was Church of England (as I am never sure what Anglican means – and think that it is a vain thing fondly invented), whereupon she said “We’ll pray for you.” If it had been said to me 15 years earlier I might have been somewhat offended, but given the parlous state of certain parts of what she knew as the “Anglican Church” how could I take offence?
Part of the problem we have in the Church regarding Ecumenism is that the situation has moved from us being divided by style and emphasis to being divided by error. We can all no doubt think of examples of the former with Baptists emphasising adult conversion and adult only baptism, with Methodists emphasising that they were a Movement and not a Church, with others decrying the Pope and others claiming that the King James Bible was the received text as if somehow God had reached down from heaven and placed the completed version into the minds of the translators. Yet for some while now many theologians and spiritual writers have noticed that what may be emerging is a new realignment based upon adherence to Orthodox Teaching and Practice on the one hand and a liberal, secular mindset on the other. Perhaps this is what Cardinal Kasper had in mind when he made it abundantly clear to our House of Bishops that the time was coming when the Church of England would have to choose whether to side with the great churches of the first millennium or more recent movements. For five hundred years the Church of England has seen itself very much as part of the continuation of the ancient Church, but recent, and ongoing, developments call this into question.
The Gospel reading this week offers some insight into how God can be exclusive: “I know my own and my own know me.” But a little further on we hear Jesus say: “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; i must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.” This has traditionally been interpreted as meaning the Gentiles, those non-Jews from Greek and Roman culture who comprised the majority of believers by the end of the first century. But by “other sheep” some have tried to say that Jesus was also was referring to other groups with no apparent ties to Christianity, such as people of other faiths, and they use this to justify not proclaiming the Gospel to them as they are going to be saved anyway. However, the text does not support such a view because it talks about them being brought to “heed his voice” and further on we hear of “one flock, one shepherd.”
Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father but through him, but he also said that: “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), which means the whole world, not just a small part of it. The Church does not act as the judge or arbiter of who will go to heaven or not: Christ does. We are not to judge individual people as unworthy of salvation because of their denomination or faith, but we are also not allowed to refuse to be messengers because we do not like the message and nor are we allowed to change the message. God’s plan of salvation is just that: God’s plan. It might indeed be very narrow and Politically Incorrect, but it is also very inclusive and broad, for God is love, and love is at one and the same time exclusive and inclusive. There is to be one flock and one shepherd, but within this flock there are to be many that we will be surprised to see and no doubt others that we will be surprised not to see. In the meantime the Good Shepherd is calling us and we are to listen to his voice and not to the voice of the wolf, even if it is wearing a mitre, for in his voice expressed through the unity of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church the Truth is proclaimed.
Don’t shoot the messenger is a common defence for someone who has to impart news that the hearer will find offensive. The Church cannot state any other than this claim of Jesus if she is to be his true servant. If individual people find this claim offensive they can take it up with Jesus Himself. But we should all note that, if God is really God, then He has every right to offer the world salvation via one path or via many paths. He also has the right not to offer this sinful world salvation at all. Thankfully He did offer it salvation, and apparently He chose one path. Mr Blair has recently suggested to the Pope that the Church should get with the times and change its moral teaching – unfortunately, he has once again shown his ignorance and failed to realise that the path he advocates has been taken by the Anglican Church in the USA to its own ruin. The message cannot be changed because the Church is called to proclaim the Truth that is Jesus Christ and the Gospel message he came to announce.
However, we should note that when Peter proclaims that “there is salvation in no one else,” he is not saying, “There is no salvation through any other denomination but mine.” Many Christians have seemingly transformed what Jesus meant into a rigorous defence of their own denomination or worse their own understanding of the Truth. I well remember a Pentecostal Minister bemoaning the fact that the few denominations that he knew as a child (and that was bad enough, he said) had proliferated into all manner of little groups each seemingly acting more and more suspiciously towards one another. He saw it as symptomatic of an all too human failing: that of a hankering after leadership.
At Walsingham on Retreat in 2006 at mealtimes I was surrounded by members of the Union of Catholic Mothers – noting my wedding ring one of them asked if I was Catholic or Anglican. I replied that I was Church of England (as I am never sure what Anglican means – and think that it is a vain thing fondly invented), whereupon she said “We’ll pray for you.” If it had been said to me 15 years earlier I might have been somewhat offended, but given the parlous state of certain parts of what she knew as the “Anglican Church” how could I take offence?
Part of the problem we have in the Church regarding Ecumenism is that the situation has moved from us being divided by style and emphasis to being divided by error. We can all no doubt think of examples of the former with Baptists emphasising adult conversion and adult only baptism, with Methodists emphasising that they were a Movement and not a Church, with others decrying the Pope and others claiming that the King James Bible was the received text as if somehow God had reached down from heaven and placed the completed version into the minds of the translators. Yet for some while now many theologians and spiritual writers have noticed that what may be emerging is a new realignment based upon adherence to Orthodox Teaching and Practice on the one hand and a liberal, secular mindset on the other. Perhaps this is what Cardinal Kasper had in mind when he made it abundantly clear to our House of Bishops that the time was coming when the Church of England would have to choose whether to side with the great churches of the first millennium or more recent movements. For five hundred years the Church of England has seen itself very much as part of the continuation of the ancient Church, but recent, and ongoing, developments call this into question.
The Gospel reading this week offers some insight into how God can be exclusive: “I know my own and my own know me.” But a little further on we hear Jesus say: “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; i must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.” This has traditionally been interpreted as meaning the Gentiles, those non-Jews from Greek and Roman culture who comprised the majority of believers by the end of the first century. But by “other sheep” some have tried to say that Jesus was also was referring to other groups with no apparent ties to Christianity, such as people of other faiths, and they use this to justify not proclaiming the Gospel to them as they are going to be saved anyway. However, the text does not support such a view because it talks about them being brought to “heed his voice” and further on we hear of “one flock, one shepherd.”
Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father but through him, but he also said that: “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), which means the whole world, not just a small part of it. The Church does not act as the judge or arbiter of who will go to heaven or not: Christ does. We are not to judge individual people as unworthy of salvation because of their denomination or faith, but we are also not allowed to refuse to be messengers because we do not like the message and nor are we allowed to change the message. God’s plan of salvation is just that: God’s plan. It might indeed be very narrow and Politically Incorrect, but it is also very inclusive and broad, for God is love, and love is at one and the same time exclusive and inclusive. There is to be one flock and one shepherd, but within this flock there are to be many that we will be surprised to see and no doubt others that we will be surprised not to see. In the meantime the Good Shepherd is calling us and we are to listen to his voice and not to the voice of the wolf, even if it is wearing a mitre, for in his voice expressed through the unity of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church the Truth is proclaimed.
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