Anybody who belongs to a church has seen the infighting, jealousy, and conflicts due to pride that occur with distressing regularity. This includes the church in Bethlehem erected over the spot where Jesus may have been born.
Priests brawl at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus
Seven people were injured on Thursday when Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.Following the Christmas celebrations, Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church, which is built over the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born.
But the ladders encroached on space controlled by Armenian priests, according to photographers who said angry words ensued and blows quickly followed.
For a quarter of an hour bearded and robed priests laid into each other with fists, brooms and iron rods while the photographers who had come to take pictures of the annual cleaning ceremony recorded the whole event.
A dozen unarmed Palestinian policemen were sent to try to separate the priests, but two of them were also injured in the unholy melee.
(video here, via Breitbart)
Some people abandon their faith over those things. It provides the perfect excuse to not live up to the challenge of Christianity. The truth is that all of those things occur throughout every group in the human race; it’s certainly not restricted to one faith or even to religion. But it’s still very upsetting, because Christians want to be – and we should be – better than that. Ed Morrissey notes that “It demeans their message, and it embarrasses every Christian around the world.”
Jesus’ birthplace is an important place in Christian history, but we can’t know for sure if this is even the right location. The bible doesn’t provide much of a description. There are more clues to the location of Jesus’ crucifixion, a far more well-publicized event than his birth, and that has been narrowed down to two places a half mile apart. Even assuming this is the right location, the historical value is certainly lessened by the massive monument to man that’s been erected on top of it. The pride that led to the construction of this gilded monstrosity naturally leads to fights over the control of it. These priests are misguided, at best.
Well, it’s the pursuit of holiness – none of us have achieved it yet. Still, a physical fight over who gets to clean a church isn’t something you see every day. I’d be laughing if it weren’t so sad. These men – ostensibly leaders of the church – are so focused on their petty personal concerns about their position in the Lord’s birthplace that they have forgotten to be concerned about their position before his throne.
