Is There Any Hope for Catholic Evangelization?
It's hard to put yourself out there when it feels like there's no point. What can an ancient army teach us about fortitude in evangelization?
This week I’ve been reading from 1 Maccabees, Chapter 3. In verses 55 & 56, the enemy has gathered to destroy Israel. The Jewish people have fasted and prayed for deliverance, and Judas Maccabeus has gathered together a defending army, which ends up getting winnowed down to 3,000 men:
55 After this Judas appointed leaders of the people, in charge of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens. 56 And he said to those who were building houses, or were betrothed, or were planting vineyards, or were fainthearted, that each should return to his home, according to the law.
Okay that sounds reasonable?
Well, in ordinary times, sure. To build a home and form a family and cultivate the land is a perfectly normal peacetime occupation. The whole point of national defense is to make it possible for people to do just that.
But look at the context of this particular invasion, described in the preceding verses:
34 And he [King Antiochus] turned over to Lysias half of his troops and the elephants, and gave him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea and Jerusalem, 35 Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to banish the memory of them from the place, 36 settle aliens in all their territory, and distribute their land.
The invading army is intending to completely annihilate the Jewish people. There will be no home. There will be no farming. Indeed, there won’t be any marriage, by the time the conquerors have finished:
38 Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, mighty men among the friends of the king, 39 and sent with them forty thousand infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and destroy it, as the king had commanded. 40 So they departed with their entire force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain. 41 When the traders of the region heard what was said of them, they took silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters, and went to the camp to get the sons of Israel for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of the Philistines joined with them.
Anyone who survives will become a war captive, sold off as slaves — and the slave traders are literally lining up to haul off the prisoners. The odds for this Jewish army of a few thousand are terrible. They’re facing down:
40,000 infantry;
7,000 cavalry;
Syrian and Philistine mercenaries (so, coming from the bordering countries, perhaps hoping to be among those settlers claiming the captured territory).
No matter what they do, it looks like it’s all over for God’s chosen people.
In the face of these odds, knowing that genocide is the plan, if you’re saying, “Oh, I just gotta go pick my grapes, and I’m getting engaged, and, gosh, kinda need to add on to the house — sorry, it’s just a busy time for me,” you’re in deep denial. You’re running from the problem.
And, okay, it’s a scary a problem. It’s an utterly overwhelming, bone-shakingly terrifying, we are going to die, not pleasantly problem. Unless God comes through, it’s a no-win situation.
What does this story mean for us today? There’s a reason it was recorded in the Bible, and one of the reasons is so that you and I, in a completely different time and place, could learn something about our life in relationship with God.
If you’re reading this newsletter, you care about evangelization. You care about growing the Kingdom of God. We know from the words of Jesus and the example of the apostles and the early Church that this Kingdom is not to be built by military conquest but by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples.
What else do we know? We know that the odds are terrible. They were terrible for the early Christians and, even today when so much of the world has been Christianized to varying extents, the odds are still awful. In some countries, Christians are being brutalized and murdered for their faith. What obstacles do we face in the US, Canada, and Europe?
A culture that just doesn’t care anymore. We’re post-Christian.
An attitude in some places of hostility towards displays of faith — to be publicly religious is considered offensive or inappropriate.
A wider culture teaching values that are actively opposed to Christian respect for the sacred dignity of human life.
Many, many hurting ex-Catholics who have left the Church for understandable reasons, some due to the legacy of child rape and molestation enabled by parish and diocesan leaders, others for lesser but still significant offenses against the faithful.
Continued divisions within the Church herself.
Just like it was hard for the people of Israel to volunteer to fight against impossible odds, at times evangelization feels downright futile today.
As for the army of Judas Maccabeus, as for our Lord on the Cross, as for us today, we have to remember: God is in it to win. He uses our weakness and our desolation to show the miraculous, lifegiving power of His love.
Thus, interestingly and just the opposite of the excuses of the fainthearted in the time of Judas Maccabeus, today many of us are called to fight the battle for souls by centering our energy on tending to our marriages, creating loving homes, rearing children in the faith, and carrying our faith into the workplace and into the local community.
These callings require courage. The odds are daunting. But God’s not asking us to win the fight of our own strength. He is asking us to show up and stand with Him and learn from Him as He defeats the enemy.
Once you know that’s the plan, maybe you want to be there after all.