In September the UK Evangelical Alliance issued a comment on the “Unite the Kingdom” rally in London, and its misuse of Christian faith and symbols (see the other attachment). The notion of a Britain economically and culturally under threat from immigration sets an agenda to which others feel they must respond (always a futile task), instead of telling their own story. In fact Home Office statistics say that nearly half of all migrants come on work permits (including up to 300,000 social and health-care workers), many others on study visas and only thirteen percent (108,000 in 2024) as Asylum Seekers. Some European countries receive more- France, Spain, and Italy all between 150 and 170 thousand, Germany 250,000.
The focus on immigration effectively masks real economic problems: an economy dependent increasingly on debt (which caused the 2008 financial crash); austerity and reduced social spending on health and education; the growing inequality of wealth and income. It is harder to tell a convincing “story” to fill the vacuum now vulnerable to over-simplistic “solutions” targeting easy scapegoats. That requires a political awareness of the kind often developed in WW1 and WW2 among soldiers (usually contrary to the intentions of Army authorities- see link 1 below). Broadcasts such as the BBC “More or Less” can also be valuable to check facts asserted in political propaganda (see link 2 below).
But that is a long-term task, and there are more immediate ones, such as the City of Sanctuary Movement UK (see link 3 below); greeting non-white people in the street (to counter fear and alienation); finding ways in churches to talk about immigration, while recognising that powerful (or demonic??) forces have duped otherwise well-meaning people, and that prejudice is often a “normal” reaction to what is not understood.
The Parable of the Vineyard Labourers in Mark chapter 12 depicts God as the owner of the “vineyard” Israel (compare Isaiah chapter 5), with the religious leaders as rebellious tenants (verse 12), and Jesus the “beloved Son” (verse 6) who they want to kill (chapter 11, verse 18) in order to gain possession of the property.
The parable includes easily recognisable features of the land-ownership of that time: most good land controlled by few wealthy families, in defiance of the principles of land-sharing (Jubilee- Leviticus chapter 25), with debt having reduced most peasant small-holders to landless tenant labourers. Absentee owners lived in cities, often abroad, and relied on agents to collect rents. Eviction and execution would be the likely result of any rebellion which hoped to restore their right to own the property they worked (verses 7 and 9). Throughout his ministry Jesus had challenged this system and its impact on people- which is one reason why the powerful wanted rid of him.
Land ownership and use are major debates in Britain today- competing claims of housing, food production, solar farms and the preservation of nature create both local and national disputes- all framed within the current government policy prioritising “growth”. In 2017 “A People’s Food Policy” was produced as an attempt to provide for greater participation (see link 4 below)- but established interests can easily marginalise such thinking.
These disputes are dwarfed by conflict over land in Israel-Palestine, between long-settled people and newcomers convinced of their God-given right (and for some an exclusive right) to the country. The question of “whose land” (and “whose country”) which underlies not only the parable Jesus told, but his whole ministry, have not gone away.
Links:
- Education and Politics in the British Armed Forces in WW2: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000007112
- “More or Less”: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd
- City of Sanctuary UK: www.cityofsanctuary.org
- A People’s Food Policy: www.globaljustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/a_peoples_food_policy_june_2017.pdf