Green Jesus

Posted by Jill Warner in Current Event Editorials.

Jesus says, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31)

When Saint Patrick was sixteen, he was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave. During that time, his faith deepened and he found strength and courage in daily prayer. After six years of captivity, he was guided by a voice to escape to his homeland, only to be guided by a vision to return to Ireland to become the “Voice of the Irish.” After his successful escape to his homeland, he did heed the vision he received and returned to Ireland and is credited with baptizing and converting thousands to the Catholic faith. Today, Saint Patrick is the world renowned patron Saint of Ireland and as such is synonymous with green beer, shamrocks, and wearing green on Saint Patti’s day. But instead of the traditional drinking of green beer, Saint Patrick offers us all an opportunity to reflect on the many events that have unfolded since the last article posted on this blog. Since January, the United States has a new leader, there was a miracle on the Hudson river, not long afterward a fiery crash that claimed the lives of several women who were in service to humanity, Israel ruthlessly bombed Gaza, and a global economic crisis is leaving many people homeless and out of work. This is the unpredictable nature of life, the unpredictable nature of God.

Jesus says, “For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31) Jesus speaks these prophetic words as he is being lead to his own crucifixion at Golgotha—The place of the Skull. The Tree of Christianity is indeed very dry and the voice of Evangelical Christianity is being lead to its own Golgotha. A recent article written by Michael Spencer on the Christian Science monitor entitled—The Coming Evangelical Collapse—An anti-Christian Chapter in Western history is about to begin, but out of the ruins a new vitality and integrity will rise. The article begins by stating, “We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West… Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline.” What is causing this predictable collapse of Evangelical Christianity and how can it help us understand the teaching of Jesus on an even deeper level?
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