A Whistler-blower

"Jesus was a whistler-blower"

Have you ever thought of this descriptor for Jesus? I hadn't until just lately when I heard it used in a sermon. I was quite familiar with words like a revolutionary, a Jew, a peasant, uneducated, and radical, being used in this way - and have often used them myself. But whistler-blower? NO.

The online Oxford dictionary defines a whistle-blower as ‘a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity.’ It doesn’t ask for much of a stretch to apply this definition to the teachings of Jesus. According to the writers of the gospels he was always challenging authority in one way or another! Who are the whistle-blowers of today then?

I remember seeing the movie Erin Brockovich, about an unemployed single mother who became a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brought down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply. I never equated Erin Brockovich with Jesus.

Then there's Edward Snowden, who leaked the information to the media in June, 2013 that the U.S National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans. As well they were  tapping directly into the servers of nine internet firms to track online communication where a surveillance programmes known as Prism was using email accounts and Facebook to spy on citizens (www.bbc.com). In 2014, Snowden was granted a three year residency permit in Russia, having been charged in the US ' with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence.'

The Stepanovs became the most important whistleblowers in the history of anti-doping after providing secretly recorded audio and video messages, emails and text messages to a World Anti-Doping Agency independent commission. They did so at their own personal risk, leaving Russia first for Germany and now for the United States before a German broadcaster aired their allegations of doping in a documentary in December 2014. (USA TODAY Sports, June 17, 2016) 

Yes, whistle-blowing is alive and well and these are just three instances of it in today's society. In every case, Brockovich, Snowden and the Stepanovs all felt that they could do no other than expose the duplicity and wrongdoing on the part those in power at great cost to their own freedom and safety.

None of the above to my knowledge professed to be Christians. All of the above were following the example set down by Jesus of Nazareth. Does this strike anyone besides me as being odd?

Christianity was built in the beginning on the writings, first of all of St. Paul, and then of the gospel writers. The gospels in particular pass on to us some of stories about Jesus as seen through the eyes of the writers. Why is is then, that we who are heirs of this legacy, don't continue on the path of Jesus and stand up against abuse of power wherever we see it?  Are we afraid?  Are we blind to the corruption in our society? Or do we just not care?

But whether on a large scale like those mentioned above or on a smaller scale, we are all called to be whistle-blowers!  It is easier to just walk away from situations, to not make waves, but by doing so we are also, like Peter, denying the person we claim to follow.

When was the last time you were a whistle-blower?