Innocent
Blood
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the November 19, 2016 Sabbath School Lesson
Their
deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush
into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts
of violence mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no
justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who
walks along them will know peace.” Isaiah 59:6b-8, NIV
Those of us who live in the United States sometimes lose
sight of what it means to follow Jesus Christ in other parts of the world. The
man in this picture is a Christian pastor who was out performing ministry for
those in his city in Syria. He returned home to find that terrorists had killed
all four of his children for the crime of being Christian. Perhaps they would
have killed him as well had he been present. However, the murderers may have
errored in thinking that this would stop his ministry. He resolves to carry on.
Otherwise his lovely children would have died for nothing. The anguish in his
face likely echoes that of Job when he was told that all of his children had
been killed when the house collapsed on them during a party.[i] The death of a child is
always a painful and senseless heartache for those who survive them. But like
this dedicated pastor, Job’s response to his loss was to continue on faithfully
worshipping God.[ii]
We point to such atrocities and identify them as the
works of the Devil. It is no surprise to us that his name is only evil with a “d”
added to it. He is not only “the accuser of the brethren,”[iii] but he would happily
sweep as many of the faithful into the grave as he possibly could. He continues
a war begun in heaven.[iv] Those who join the ranks
of the Christian faith are choosing to enlist in that war.[v] Perhaps if they knew the
seriousness of that choice it would not be lightly made. There are many who
claim the title of Christian but who little understand what it could cost them.
Some of those who might even be willing to lay down their
lives for Jesus may be much more hesitant when it involves the lives of those
they love, like their children or a spouse.
We are almost to the point of one Christian being
murdered for his or her faith around the world every hour.[vi] It usually takes me about
four hours to prepare these weekly commentaries, and during that time, four
more Christians will have died like this man’s children. The Devil never seems
to sleep. I do not mean to be harsh, but sometimes it seems as though we as
Christians here in the United States, and perhaps elsewhere, enjoy our round of
fests and potlucks without realizing that during the time we remain cloistered within
the social life of the church, the Devil continues to make the streets of our
cities, our suburbs and our small towns darker and darker with evil. That may
have begun hidden away but even now spills more and more over into the
daylight.
We pray for one another when someone becomes sick or has
an accident, and this is good, but what of the rest of the world and its
tremendous need. Who leaves the comforts of WiFi, fast food, overflowing
grocery stores and designer clothes behind to relieve suffering and shine light
in the growing darkness? If we live in a country fortunate enough to support a
parochial school system, our children go through elementary school, middle
school and high school all protected from the influences of the world. During
that time, they may be taught by example that a few hours a term sorting cans
in a food bank is all that is required to minister to the tremendous need in
the world.
Some may have the opportunity to travel to other
countries to build churches or schools, where they are feted as visiting
celebrities from America. For their safety, and rightly so, they are kept
together where they are protected and secure. They do not experience what life
may be like for the very people they are building their mission project for.
They do not understand what it is like to be hungry for most, if not all, of
the day. They do not know that the food prepared for the “missionaries” may be
the most food that some villagers have seen at one time and in one place in
their lives. They do not understand what it is like for a large family with
limited clothing where they have to decide who gets to wear the “good” clothes
that day because of what important person they might be meeting.
They also do not understand that in building that
building, they may be taking a way an opportunity for local laborers to earn a
living to feed their families by doing paid labor. Some might reply that paying
local laborers would make the building too costly to erect. However, are they
factoring into that cost the several thousands of dollars each American “builder/missionary”
had to pay to travel to the country to do the job? How many laborers and how
many families could have been supported at local wages with that money? Sure it
gives us the opportunity to return to our churches and proclaim how wonderful
our mission experience was and while showing the slides, how much deeper our
Christian commitment is now. In reality, maybe we are only perpetuating a First
World arrogance that says, “We have the money, so we will determine how it is
spent, and furthermore, we will be on scene to make sure, even though the
travel may cost us more than the church building does.” No wonder locals are
drawn to attend the church that has been built. These rich and powerful missionaries
have said this is how they worship, perhaps if we follow suit, we will also be
rich and powerful. This may have come home all too clearly when these same third
world members or their descendants came to San Antonio and “turned the tables”
on the rich and wonderful Americans by vetoing a First World request for special
accommodations for women pastors at the General Conference session. We have
modeled how to use power to them for so long, they have become adept at it
themselves.
But on the other hand, we may be doing far too little in confronting the Devil
by relieving real suffering when we encounter it, either because we avoid it,
or we have become so inured to the images of suffering presented on local,
national and international media that we no longer react when we do see it. It
is as though we can no longer see the Devil working and so do not respond to
his evil. Somehow we have become more concerned about movies and meat eating
than about the places where simply taking the name of Christian can be far more
damaging to your physical and mental health than either of these things. We
preserve our lives through healthful living and receive increased longevity as
a result, but for what? So we can spend a few more years playing golf, a few
more summers at the lake cabin, or more days watching Three Angels Broadcasting?
How then are we any more helpful to the suffering in the world than Job’s three
friends were to him?
Job never gave any indication in what he said to his friends
that he even understood that his suffering could have been brought about by the
Devil. He lays his entire case at the feet of God for justice. Interestingly,
while Job is suffering with little comfort from these friends, he well
understood what real relief for suffering was about for he worked hard to relieve
it.[vii] Nonetheless, like
Christ, he came to feel the suffering of those he helped. From his words we can
gather that he would rather have avoided that if possible, just as Jesus said
in Gethsemane, but in the end both Job and Jesus endured the trial.[viii]
Perhaps as modern Christians, we have lost sight of the significance of sharing
in the sufferings of Christ. We break an arm or a leg and relish that we are
partaking in Jesus’ suffering. But we may be misguided for Jesus suffered for
his efforts to relieve suffering for others, not because of His clumsiness.
That kind of ministry can be messy, dirty and thankless. We may have to hold
our nose because of the stench of Job’s boils. We may find that those who deal
with chronic pain are not the nicest, most tactful people in the world. After
all, how would we feel toward others if severe pain never left our bodies? But
we might even be thankful for the insignificance of such challenges compared to
those who lose their lives or the lives of those they love while ministering to
others in their need.
We sometimes think back to great heroes of the faith who ministered to the
suffering of others, heroes like Father Damien[ix] who cared for the lepers
on Molokai, eventually losing his own life to leprosy. But there are many “Damiens”
still, who are doing a powerful work to relieve suffering. We should carry them
in our prayers and even better, join their ranks. We do not need to go far.
Suffering is everywhere if we can learn to see it. Fortunately, through our
willingness to serve, God’s love and compassion can be everywhere also.
