Monk Wars

From Kelly Randolph at Ecclesiophilist comes this simultaneously humorous and depressing report. From the Ecclesiastical Wierdness Files

In what has to be one of the strangest stories of the day, rival monks had a brawl at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The fight broke out between Armenian (not arminian) monks and Greek Orthodox monks when the Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. The Greek Orthodox monks said the Armenian monks had no right to march through the church, so they blocked the group from marching. Israeli police rushed in to break up the fight.

OK, let me get this straight. Two groups of guys who supposedly revere Jesus Christ decided to beat each other up on the very site where Jesus is reported to have died for our sins and rose from the dead. And this fight broke out while one of the groups was celebrating the discovery of the cross that was used to crucify Jesus.

Silliness tends to break out when so-called Christians have more reverence for religious relics, holy sites, and ecclesiastical authority than they do for Jesus or the things He taught. Lest we think that this kind of nonsense only takes place among the Catholic groups, we need to remind ourselves that many a Baptist business meeting has broken out into verbal brawling over things as trivial as colors of carpet and who is going to be in charge of the potluck this month.

There are certainly times when Christians differ over substantial issues. Sometimes these disagreements are hotly debated. This is appropriate when gospel issues are on the table. But more often than not, Christians fight over things that have little biblical significance. Such arguments are driven more by personalities and power-grabs than by a passion for Christ's kingdom.

Sadly, the outcome of these brawls has devastating consequences for the testimony of the church in the world. The irony of clergymen fighting in the very place they celebrate as the empty tomb of the resurrection is not lost on a watching world. Let's not waste our energy fighting about silly, trivial things. We have real enemies to fight. Not least is the enemy of pride and self-importance which prods us to raise ourselves and our cause above everyone else.

The story was also covered by Ben Witherington, who commented:

It may be hoped that the parties involved in this disgrace will repent, and then apologize to each other. In the meantime the Jesus who died on the cross on this very spot shakes his head and says--- "I died for this? I died so my followers could behave like this?" I think not.

So lets review: 1) the Muslims opened and shut the doors of this church yesterday; 2) the Israeli Jewish police came and stopped a fracass in the foyer of this church; and what did the Christians do while Jews and Muslims were watching--- 3) THEY PUNCHED EACH OTHERS LIGHTS OUT!!!

Father, forgive us, we do not know what we do.