Last week’s post focused on the complaint of the Pharisees and Scribes that Jesus’ disciples ate without washing their hands. Evangelisation means preaching the gospel and allowing the person to choose conversion. On the other hand, proselytisation entails adopting all possible legal and illegal and moral and immoral strategies to convert one, willingly or unwillingly, to another faith. The evangelisation model is Jesus’ preferred mode of propagating the faith, and he was explicit about it when he sent out the twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples. How the evangelisation model prevents conflicts is the focus of today’s post.
Setting
The gospels of Matthew (Matt 10:1-23), Mark (Mark 3:14-19), and Luke (Luke 9:1-6) narrate that Jesus sent the apostles and disciples out to preach. However, only Matthew and Luke record the evangelisation model. Matthew records the sending out of the twelve apostles, while Luke recounts the sending out of the seventy-two disciples.
The response of Jesus
When Jesus sent the twelve apostles and charged them to visit only the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he said,
“Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town” (Matt 10:11-14).
When Jesus sent the seventy-two to visit the other towns and villages, he said: “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them” (Luke 10::4-5).
The above quotations show that Jesus did not want the disciples to impose themselves on the people they evangelised. Humans have existed for millions of years, but Christianity is just over 2,000 years old. This means several religions, including traditional African religions, have long existed before Christ came in human form. Hence, Christ recognised that people already had a religious belief that they legitimately considered right and were free to uphold. Christ said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…But I say to you (Matt 5: 21-22, 27-28).
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a fundamental human right based on the inherent dignity of the human person. The evangelisation model presupposes a recognition of this freedom. Even the Incarnation of Christ was based on freedom—Mary first accepted with her fiat before Christ incarnated into her. Hence, attempting to change one’s view forcefully is proselytisation and, therefore, an infringement of their human rights. Infringing on one’s rights threatens the person’s identity and interest—simply put, it causes conflict. In proselytisation-based conflict, the aggressor is the one who infringes on the other’s right to religious freedom.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus further insisted that the apostles prevent conflict so they would never be the aggressors.
First, he reminded them they were sheep amongst wolves and would be persecuted—handing them over to councils, flogging them in their synagogues, and dragging them before governors and kings (Matt 10:16-18). These show that people were ready to defend their fundamental human rights and were willing to fight back if they considered the apostles to be threats to their existing faith beliefs or freedom to uphold them.
Second, Jesus admonished them to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Serpents are prudent, discreet, and very cautious in avoiding danger. Doves are harmless and peaceful, never preying on other birds. This means the disciples should preach peacefully and innocently to consciously prevent conflict. Finally, Jesus encouraged them to flee to another town if they persecuted them in one town (Matt 10:23). This corresponds with the stance of preventing conflicts.
No doubt, these points raise questions about the Church’s past and current evangelisation model, the martyrs who did not flee but allowed their blood to become seeds for the Church, and the issues regarding appointments in governing an already converted territory.
Although Christ emphasised the evangelisation model and the early Church embraced it in propagating the faith, the Church departed from it when it acquired state power in the fourth century. From thence, it favoured the proselytisation model and forced territories to become Christians through colonialism empowered by the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’. The Church has now apologised and officially dissociated itself from the doctrine of discovery and is currently adopting the evangelisation model. I dwelt extensively on these from Post 94 of 17th April 2023 (Proselytisation or Evangelisation?) to Post 107 of 17th July 2023 (The Church’s recent statement).
The Second Vatican Council Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae, states: “In spreading religious faith and in introducing religious practices everyone ought at all times to refrain from any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion or of a kind of persuasion that would be dishonourable or unworthy, especially when dealing with poor or uneducated people. Such a manner of action would have to be considered an abuse of one’s right and a violation of the right of others.”[1]
Regarding fleeing and martyrdom as the seed of the Church, one distinguishes between being cautious and foolhardy. On various occasions, Jesus himself fled when the Jews wanted to kill him (Luke 4:29-30, John 8:59; 10:39). The angel had earlier instructed Joseph to flee to Egypt with the baby Jesus because Herod wanted to kill the baby (Matt 2:13). When the Jews in Damascus plotted to kill Paul and ordered 24-hour surveillance of the city gates, Paul escaped at night by being lowered in a basket through a window in the wall (Acts 9:23-26; 2 Cor 11:32-33). Yet, it came to a time when they no longer fled and were both killed.
The advantage of some escape is that it helped them to spread the message before they were eventually killed.
If Jesus had not fled then, the pattern, timing and significance of his death would have been greatly altered negatively.
The first attempt to kill Paul happened just after his conversion on the way to Damascus. If he had not escaped, he would not have embarked on the numerous missionary journeys accompanied by numerous letters. Therefore, fleeing to prevent conflict is opportune. The popular idiom says: “He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day”. Oliver Goldsmith adds: “But he who is battle slain can never rise to fight again.”
Preventing negative precedence and a domino effect influences the Church’s attitude when the people of God reject an ecclesiastical officeholder. The option of doubling down is often considered the best because the Christian faithful must and should obey the ecclesiastical hierarchy. However, this best approach may not always be opportune because if the situation concerns people’s cultural identity, they may be willing to forgo everything, including the sacraments and the Church itself, to safeguard their identity and ego. In this case, the Church’s action becomes counterproductive to its holistic salvation of souls.
One must realise that religious services today are now a commodity, whereby belonging to a religious community depends largely on the ability of that religious denomination to deliver the desired religious goodies.
Moreover, the Church no longer possess the political and coercive authority it once had. As St. Paul rightly admonished: “‘All things are lawful’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23).
From the beginning, Christ knew this would happen; hence, his insistence on conflict prevention through the evangelisation model. This model presupposes respect for the right of the Christian faithful to dissatisfaction, which is a human phenomenon. Adopting the model promotes cautiousness in managing a dissatisfaction-induced conflict by seeking a win-win solution rather than a win-lose situation, which doubling down does. Adopting the model also helps avoid decisions that could lead to widespread dissatisfaction in the first place. Prevention is always better than cure.
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
[1] Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Religious Freedom: Dignitatis Humanae, 4, in AAS, LVIII (1966), 929-946.
