I recently came across a 2022 story from the long-running CBS current events program 60 Minutes. The segment was about the betrayal of Anne Frank and her family during the Holocaust. In 1944, Nazi officials were alerted to the specific location where young Anne and her Jewish family were hiding in Amsterdam. They were indeed found and ultimately sent to concentration camps. Anne’s father, Otto, was the only family member to survive the cruel and inhumane conditions.

     The story focused on the mystery that had remained unsolved for decades…how did the Nazis learn about their well-concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Otto Frank was employed? If they were tipped off, who did so and why? Many agents, authors, and investigators have considered legal, political, and historical reasons, but many believe it shockingly had to have been another Jewish person. Even Otto believed this to be true.

     Such betrayal would have seemed inconceivable during those horrific years of oppression and violence upon Jews by Nazi Germany. Thus, figuring out the why component was the starting point for Dutch documentarian, Tyce Bayens, as part of a fresh attempt to examine the notion of an internal, Jewish-connected act of disloyalty. He decided that the best approach wasn’t simply to consider who had the most to gain from outing the Frank family. Instead, he started with a question that has more to do with human nature and the limits of loyalty to what is good, even in the face of what is clearly evil…what makes us give up on each other?

     I have absolutely, positively no idea what it is like to be Jewish, or what it is like to try and survive under the subjugation of a violent, merciless enemy. But I do know what it is like to see first-hand, numerous heartbreaking examples of faithful friends, family members, and fellow citizens -who are also Christ-followers- display a willingness to give up on relationships, pass judgement, and diminish others to the point of doing harm to their sense of well-being. Why did we start sacrificing one another’s value to be able to claim our own virtue?

     As a person of faith, I often ponder how we can regenerate and reclaim the sacred worth we should have for one another? It could, and should, start within the church, but there are often more critics residing there than collaborators. Often the job of a critic is to point out why something, or someone, doesn’t measure up to a standard of expectation…how they fall short. But if none of us are capable of fully meeting the standard, isn’t it better for us to collaborate despite our differences and inadequacies, instead of giving up on one another?

     Jesus Christ brought together a group of people with differing backgrounds, reputations, abilities, perspectives, and yes, flaws. Judas may be forever known as the Betrayer, but he wasn’t the only one in the group, he was just the first. Even as they received and witnessed first-hand the grace that Christ offered to everyone open to receiving it, one-by one the disciples gave up on each other, and ultimately Jesus, when the going got tough.  Their faith could not overcome their fear.

     Among human beings there are countless differences…but within humanity there are none. That may seem like a contradictory statement, but actually it encourages a spirit of collaboration. None of us will ever be better than another in God’s eyes. Perhaps better at something, but never better than someone.

1 Corinthians 13:8 opens with a short phrase, “Love never ends…” (NRSV). But it can also be translated as “Love never gives up.” May that be what holds us together, silences the critic within us, and calls us into holy collaboration.

The Reverend Dr. David Weatherly
President/CEO