By Alex Mutagubya
I promised to give a biblical and theological response to why the church seems to be silent about the fight between Bobi Wine and Museveni. What should the church’s position be in light of what is going on in Uganda today?
I believe it is proper, even in times of tension, uncertainty, doubt, and turmoil, for God’s people to look to the church for answers. However, I believe that God’s people ought to know what it is to expect from the church in times such as these. In Luke 7:17- 23, we find a rather insightful passage as Jesus responds to a situation that is quite similar to what we are dealing with. In this passage, John the Baptist, who almost everyone knows to be a just man, is in prison. John has been imprisoned by Herod because John spoke out against the injustices of the day and the personal failings of the Herod and his wife. Herod is a notorious despotic dictator backed up by the ruthless roman army machinery.
A report gets to John in his prison that Jesus has the attention of the entire region. (Luke 7:) 20 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus’ response is not exactly what you would expect. Here is how Jesus responds; 21 And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. 22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Here is what we can learn from this passage.
1. The church is most effective when it rises above the politics than when it engages in the politics of the day. Political silence is not synonymous with complacency or compromise. When John asks “Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?” in his mind, Jesus is not responding to the roman machinery and the Herodian dynasty appropriately, if he is responding to it at all. If there is a person he should at the very least defend, it should be John the Baptist. But Jesus carries on with his ministry without even a slight mention of what is happening to John or talking about the larger roman oppressive political system that was in place.
2. To look for the voice of the church in political action is to look for it in the wrong place. The voice of the church is to be sought in social action. You see, in face of political injustices and disagreements, the easiest route is to simply take one side over the other. And each side on the political spectrum expects the church to, in one way or the other, take on its side. But what Jesus demonstrates for the church right here is that the church is not subject to one political entity or the other. But the church goes down to the ground to touch people’s lives in ways that are personal, relevant and individually accessible. The power of the church does not rise from commanding high office but rather in serving the person on the ground. We win hearts not contests.
3. When the church engages in Politics, it compromises her true witness of the Kingdom of God. The church is to be postured in such a way that her witness to the kingdom reign of our God is not tainted by the politics of the day. In that way, we are better leveraged to speak with prophetic authority to the powers that are in place. No wonder later Jesus has the ability to speak to Herod with words such as “Go, tell that fox…” It is not that the church is oblivious of the political circumstances around it, but its mandate demands that it rises above the politics of its day to carry out its Prophetic, Priestly and pastoral mandate.
What some look at today and call silence, could very well be the most appropriate response of the church to the current political situation in the country. Jesus knew that the solutions of our world did not lie in political institutions but rather in the preaching of the gospel and so, he set up the church. While it is true that the church in one sense is a highly political institution, it does not play on the same game board as the other political institutions of the day. We rise above the politics to touch human hearts and reconcile all men to God.
The Writer is lead Pastor of City Church – Luzira.
