John Kuhn Bleimaier
“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Luke 12:48
One of the striking characteristics one notices traveling in the Old World is the fact that communities large and small are dominated by two types of structure, the palaces of the nobility and the churches of God. It is hardly surprising that the dominant group in society should build residences which reflect their preeminent position. Admiring the monuments of ecclesiastic architecture one ought to question whence came the motivation for this lavish expenditure. Those of us who live in 21st Century America are accustomed to seeing churches in decline; sanctuaries repurposed as libraries, civic centers or even profane restaurants and theaters. It is very much the exception today, to see the construction of new and prosperous looking houses of God. What has transpired during the past Millenium that has resulted in the literal decline in God’s physical real estate in our time?
From a historical perspective the great churches of Europe were not, by and large, constructed by the parishioners as a group. The common man and woman did not possess the discretionary funds to make significant contributions for church building in the Middle Ages. They might, at best, cast in the “widow’s mite” into the treasury to their own credit and God’s satisfaction. The great cathedrals in Europe’s urban centers and the beautiful parish churches in towns and villages were financed by the nobility. As democratic current day Americans, we are accustomed to looking askance at the aristocracy of old. However, we must give credit where credit is due. The upper class of old took seriously a certain sense of social responsibility and obligation before God.
The concept of noblesse oblige means that nobility constrains to honorable behavior; privilege entails responsibility. That responsibility included the compulsion to build houses of worship for the common people and to the glory of the Creator. The great architectural masterpieces of European Christian culture were funded by the lords and ladies at the pinnacle of the social pyramid. All of us are human, possessed of the frailties and shortcomings deriving from Adam and the Fall. We are certainly today thoroughly aware of the excesses and foibles on the leadership of the ancien regime. Nevertheless, we must not fail to recognize the veracity of the principle embodied in noblesse oblige. Jesus instructed us that everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required. Luke 12:48. The old nobility seems to have recognized this admonition, at least in so far as it relates to building churches.
We study history in order to help us comprehend the situations which we encounter in our own time. When we perceive the pitiful state of the church in 21st Century America and when we learn the societal conditions which created a prosperous institutional church of old, we can draw conclusions. What has happened to the dictum of noblesse oblige? There never was and never will be a temporal community without stratification. Today, we have an upper class of wealth and power as in days of yore. But our social elite now are totally oblivious of the doctrine of noblesse oblige. Our leaders and shakers are by and large not even nominal Christians. In fact, I venture to guess that a majority of America’s billionaires are thoroughly anti-Christian. Sadly, many, many rich Americans are financially committed to militant “pro-abortion-choice” and transgender agendas. If they support any religion, it is unlikely to be doctrinally orthodox Christianity.
The motivation of our upper class is by and large selfishness. They support abortion on demand so that their children my frolic promiscuously without having to face the consequences. They live in fractured families where male and female role models are hopelessly confused, resulting in false and fluctuating gender identity. Social obligation is nothing more than a determination to create a nonjudgmental environment where nobody will look with scorn at the social elite and their profligate lifestyle. This is the diametric opposite of the Christian based notion of noblesse oblige.
It is not for me to cast a stone at our contemporary lords and masters. From our Christian standpoint we recognize that the great deceiver himself, not the victims of his deception, is the source of evil. As Christians it is not our duty to storm the manor house and pillory today’s godless oligarchs and autocrats. Rather, we must rely upon the weapons of the Spirit and the two-edged sword of Scripture to rally the masses and to reorient the societal leadership. We must ceaselessly propagate the unequivocal Truth and make plain that virtue is objective and not a chimera in the eye of the beholder. We need to emphasize that today’s ruling class is building their mansions on shifting sand, that will well and truly be washed away with concomitant ruin.
As Christians build a new social structure on the rock of Christ’s teaching there will inevitably arise new leadership which will, quite naturally, recognize the requirements imposed by noblesse oblige. Those possessed of nobility of spirit will realize their obligation to build churches and to spread the Word. The requirement to care for the spiritual and material welfare of the common man and woman will constitute an unquestionable imperative. The new, “noble” Christian leadership cadre must ever be mindful of history. Thus, new leaders shall guard against the self-indulgence which beset and toppled the aristocracy of olden time. The doctrine of noblesse oblige in its purest sense must be passed on from generation to generation and also to the new leaders who will naturally arise out of the masses on the basis of their virtue and intellect. We might well dedicate ourselves to this high objective.
We know on the basis of Biblical authority that the perfect dominion of God will not arrive until the Second Coming of our Savior. However, our foreknowledge of inherent human imperfection does not absolve us of our duty to work diligently to spread God’s Word and to build a social structure where Christ’s church will thrive. We believers are His “peculiar people,” zealous of good works, subject to noblesse oblige.
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