Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you. – Ezekiel 5:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 26, 2017) Ezekiel 5

As the Nazi Party began to take hold of Germany in the 1930’s, it quickly became apparent that the political structure of the nation was being set up for a conflict with the Christian Church. Adolph Hitler was willing to take steps to start off with a mediating position with regard to the church, but ultimately Hitler believed that Christianity, and all other religions, were incompatible with the National Socialism espoused by Hitler’s Nazi Party. The problem for Hitler was that Germany had strong Christian roots. So the only response for the Nazi’s was to change Christianity.

The plan started by restricting the teaching of the church. Nazi racism meant that Christianity had to make a clean break with its Jewish roots. The attack on the Jewish basis for Christianity appears to have two main focal points. First, the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) had to be removed from Christian teaching. So Hitler adopted a position similar to the position that the heretic Marcion had held in the second century - everything Jewish had to be removed from the Christian Bible. The second attack was found in the accusation that it was the crucifixion of Jesus was entirely the fault of the Jews. What more could be expected from what Hitler believed to be an inferior people? But there was a third line of attack. Quietly Adolph Hitler became portrayed as the new Messiah – the new Jesus. And the specter of a “Positive Christianity” – one dominated by the policies of National Socialism - rose within the nation.

And the unfortunate truth was that many Christians seemed to be willing to make the shift from a historical Christianity to a Nazi-dominated version of Christianity. But not all Christians made the switch. The confessing church remained active in the nation – and leaders like Dietrich Bonhoeffer kept the image of the Biblical Christ fresh in the minds of the people with whom they came into contact. But for others, it seems that Jesus’ message of love was all too easily exchanged for the Nazi-dominated Messiah characterized by hate. Knowing what it was that Christ had demanded, they decided to go in a different direction. The truth that the world discovered as the Second World War ended was that the Nazi’s had not only violated the teachings of Jesus, but they had not even lived up to the moral standards of the nations that had never accepted the teachings of Christ.

God warns the nation of Judah that their sins were greater than the other countries because, although they knew what God had demanded of them, they had decided not to keep his decrees and follow his instructions. And not only did they fail to measure up to the instructions of God, but they also did not even live up to the morality of the pagan nations that surrounded them. For God, that was unacceptable. It was then, and it continues to be unacceptable in modern times. God demands more of us. But the disturbing truth is that the church still seems too willing to exchange the message of Jesus of love for one based on hate. And in doing so, we continue to reject the demands of God – and we fail to live up to the moral standards of a secular world. And God is still unimpressed. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 6