There is always some kind of corruption in the Church somewhere.
Corruption is nothing new. Jesus had to deal with scandal in His Church. One of the twelve Apostles, Judas, completely betrayed him. When Jesus was on trial Peter denied Him 3 times. When Jesus was crucified, all but 1 Apostle went into hiding. The Church has some kind of corruption in every century.
Today, it is not that different. We see scandals, corruption, and sin within the Church and without. Like Jesus, we live with it, but we do not want to be overwhelmed by it. We want to remain faithful to God.
Imagine if 1 out of every 12 priests, nuns, and laypeople were corrupt. Or what if 1/12th of every person in the Church was corrupted by some sin in some way. Then we might understand a little about the problems Jesus faced.
So let’s not be in total shock, or jump ship anytime we see sin and corruption in the Church. Sin is never a good thing. It always causes problems, but Jesus guarantees the Church will continue.
Matthew 16:18
the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it
Corruption in History
What about the corruption of the Church in the cases of Galileo, the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades? Doesn’t this prove the Church is false?
There are different sides to each story, but let’s assume for the moment those are all 100% failures, each one a complete case of corruption.
It still does not prove the Church is false. It reveals the Church is full of sinners. Sometimes one person, or a group of people, can cause great harm to the flock. This is not new to us. Jesus had to face corruption as well.
Corruption in Jesus’s time
If we think we have it bad, Jesus faced some of the worst corruption; Betrayed by one of his own Apostles; handed over by his own Jewish people; killed by skilled torturers; condemned to death by everyone’s sin, including ours.
But Jesus did not leave. He prayed He endured, and He paid the ultimate sacrifice for His Church.
Corruption in the Old Testament
Corruption was not something new to Jesus either. It was a common theme in the Old Testament.
Jacob
If you read Genesis, perhaps you were a little agitated when Jacob lied to his father Isaac to get the family blessing?
I did. It was not fair. Why was someone in the Bible doing something sinful? Shouldn’t they be acting better? Maybe I’ll stop reading as I was hoping for good stories.
The Bible was written about sinners for sinners. It is about sinners… As a result, we will see people acting sinfully and the negative effects of their sin. Perhaps we will learn from it.
Reading the Bible is like rehabilitation for sinners.
- Parts of the Bible are not always enjoyable to read, but there is usually a spiritual lesson.
If you continued reading the story about Jacob, you may have noticed some justice was eventually served to him. As he was looking for a wife, Jacob was tricked by Laban into working 7 years for Leah, not the wife he was asking for, and then another 7 years for the wife he wanted, Rachel.
- God’s justice caught up with Jacob.
- Essau was a bit of a fool, giving up his birthright over a bowl of food, so Jacob was the better choice.
Often God’s promise with His people will continue through sinners. If not, the Bible would have ended at Adam and Eve because everyone is a sinner.
- We should not expect to find perfect people in the Old Testament
David
David is looked at as one of the great kings of the Old Testament. Handsome, A great military strategist, loved by the people… and an adulterer and murderer.
David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, When he found out she was pregnant, he lied to and murdered Uriah by leaving him defenseless in the front lines of a battle.
David and Bathsheba lost the child. Eventually, David repented but faced severe family problems towards the end of his reign.
- David’s sins were eventually dealt with by God’s justice.
- The Lord’s promise with His people continued through David, a sinner.
Solomon
Solomon started out as a great king and was granted great wisdom. Then Solomon had 300 wives, 700 concubines, worshiped false gods, and performed every corruption that God through Moses and Samuel warned about having a king. oppressing the people with taxes and labor.
His son, Rehoboam decided he would follow in his father’s footsteps and be even harsher on the people. 10 of the tribes of Israel broke away in Protest.
We may be surprised that God’s promise continued through Rehoboam, not with those that broke away. The 10 tribes, who decided they would serve justice themselves, ended up with worse leaders, falling into greater sin, and losing the promised line of succession. They were eventually defeated and scattered by the Assyrians.
The 10 tribes never returned. Judah was weakened. Whoever was left would have to wait hundreds of years for an answer in the Messiah, Jesus.
- Internal Corruption harms a lot of people.
- Disunity causes long term problems
- God’s promise continues despite sin and corruption
Prayer
One thing we can do when we see corruption in the Church is to pray. Jesus told us to pray the Our Father and ask for our daily bread. This is not to say we support or ignore corruption, but we need to pray so that corruption does not control us or ruin our spirit.
What We Can Control
Sometimes it is downright difficult and unfair when we see sin and corruption. Unless we are directly involved to change it, we can look toward what the Lord put under our control.
What can focus on is what we can do for our families, our friends, our co-workers, our local church, volunteering to help others, and doing good wherever we are.
Because of Jesus’ promise, we know the Church will make it through periods of sin and corruption. However, the closer we are to God in the daily things He asks us of, the better off we will be.
News
In our society, ratings and shock value can sometimes control the news. This can result in an endless whirlwind of negativity, seemingly endless corruption everywhere and daily dissatisfaction.
I once attended a talk about Jesus sleeping during a storm at sea. On one side of the boat, the Apostles were looking out into the endless waves and were distraught. On the other side a couple of the Apostles were looking directly at Jesus staying close to him. They were all in rough seas but how they approached Jesus affected their demeanor.
The moral of the talk was to focus on Jesus and to avoid things that are an endless whirlwind constantly disturbing us.
- Let’s be aware of how much negative news we consume. Watching too much can change our own outlook to be divisive and negative.
- Focus more time on prayer, going to church, reading the Bible, and quality time with people around us.
Conclusion
- When someone in the Church chooses great sin, it can damage a lot of people, but it does not mean the entire Church is corrupt. Jesus did not replace His entire Church because of Judas.
- After the Apostles abandoned Jesus at the cross, some time passed, but then Jesus offered Peter reconciliation and He visited them. Jesus did not hold a grudge against them.
- We can be sure that God will serve justice to everyone who needs it in His due time. We don’t have to worry about making sure God does it according to our timeline.
- God’s justice may seem slow to us, but like flour in a mill, it slowly grinds injustices to powder.
- Let’s fill ourselves with prayer and the word of God each day, let each day be worry enough for itself.
Mark 4
The Calming of a Storm at Sea.
35 On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.”
36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him.
37 A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up.
38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
39 He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”* The wind ceased and there was great calm.
40 Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?”
41 They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”
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Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.