4 minute read
Winter reflections
Winter reflections
Paul Whitfield - Chaplain
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Your child ignores you in public or a peer makes a joke at your expense – we all experience times when we feel disrespected. At these moments, we may well ask “If you won’t respect me, why should I respect you?”
The Bible’s answer to this question takes us right back to the beginning. In the very first chapter, we hear God say,
Like a mirror bears our resemblance, humanity represents God. Even when humanity stumbles and our rule over creation and relationships with each other seem cursed, we’re told we still bear God’s image. This renders each human being as priceless - God esteems each one of us highly and expects us to treat others as we would our maker Himself.
In the ancient world, people believed that some individuals bore God’s image. The Egyptian Pharoah Ramses II declared himself “the image of God”. In Jesus’ day, coins proclaimed the Emperor Tiberius’ father Augustus was divine. In contrast, the Bible claims that each individual is made in God’s image and each one of us is therefore of equal and measureless value.
As this idea of equality in God’s image spread through the Roman world, it brought with it positive social change. Christians collected unwanted infants who had been discarded by their parents and raised them as their own; during epidemics, believers risked their lives to care for the sick; wealthy converts showed they were serious about their faith by setting their slaves free. Jesus’ followers emancipated slaves by purchasing them at the marketplace and even raided slave ships to liberate the prisoners.
Sadly, Christians failed to eradicate slavery and the Bible was even used to justify the enslavement of African people in America. But still then, forced to read the Bible in secret, captive people heard messages of hope confirming what they suspected – that slavery was wrong and that God would judge their oppressors.
As former slave Frederick Douglas wrote,
The British politician William Wilberforce reached the same conclusion a generation earlier. In understanding from the Bible that every slave was a woman and a sister or a man and a brother, Wilberforce argued that those who bear God’s image cannot be commodified. For 20 years he persevered against those who claimed slavery was an economic necessity, until finally the British parliament banned the slave trade and eventually outlawed slavery.
Today, slavery continues - most commonly in an economic form. While the proportion and number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen in modern times, there are still hundreds of millions trapped in its cycle. Those of us with abundance have a precious opportunity.
The Bible claims, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD”. In fact, Christian teachers right back to the fourth century have argued that the poor have an inherent claim on the goods of the rich. According to Basil of Caesarea, “The bread you store belongs to the hungry. The clothes you accumulate belong to the naked.” Historically, out of such understanding grew notions of natural rights - such as the right to a fair trial, self-preservation, self-defense, property and the necessities of life.
It’s a joy to find a community committed to respect at Penrhos – I see it practised here every day. I’ve found students embracing a diversity of interests and gifts; I’ve seen money and awareness raised for important charities and for those affected by illness. Even our current Winter Appeal is distributing excess clothes from our cupboards to those in need - from service learning to addressing reconciliation, there’s a lot to celebrate.
But there’s always room for growth. If we believe each individual bears God’s image and is of priceless worth, then we owe it to them to treat them like we would our maker - even when their actions don’t warrant such respect. According to the Bible, when someone is rude, or impatient, or unfair it doesn’t change their value. If we remember this in the moment that we feel disrespected, it has the power to transform our response – and, in responding with respect regardless, we can together change our world for the better.
