 |
| Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus escaping to Egypt. Image source. |
Looking at some of the news from Ukraine as it is being attacked by Russia, and thinking about Matthew 24:
Baby born in subway station used as bomb shelter in Kyiv
California Couple Says They Escaped War-Torn Ukraine with Days-Old Newborn
"So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again." Matthew 24:15-21
Matthew 24 is labelled "The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times" in the NIV Bible, and it's basically Jesus predicting big disasters. Typically modern American Christians read this as being about the end of the world, but really it was probably about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
I remember reading this passage, back in high school. And verse 19- "How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers"- just seemed completely out of left field. Like, what on earth? What does Jesus have against pregnant women and nursing mothers? Why does God want to make them suffer more?
It's very revealing of the way I viewed the bible back then. When I read the (many many) passages where prophets went on and on and on about how this or that city is going to be destroyed as punishment from God, I believed that those people in those cities totally deserved it because of their sin. And that the punishment that God was sending made sense. That it was the right punishment for their sin.
But Matthew 24... I had no way to understand this verse, about how pregnant and breastfeeding women will suffer more than the average person during this disaster. Why would God want that? If the disasters prophesied in the bible were specifically engineered by God to target people whose sin needed to be punished, well... it doesn't make sense!
I remember asking my mom about it, back then. She said, well, if you have to flee your home, it's way harder when you're pregnant or when you have a baby to take care of.
Which, yes, clearly in practical terms that is true. But I had never read the bible that way. The idea that Jesus was describing the human consequences of this disaster, and how, practically speaking, those consequences fall on vulnerable members of society moreso than others. I don't know if I had ever heard that before.
That's not the way it should be, but it's the way it is.
In every kind of society-wide problem, it's the people who are vulnerable (poor, minorities, disabled, children, etc) who suffer the worst, while people with money and privilege are able to shield themselves from it to some extent. It's always like that.
No, I haven't heard modern Christians claiming modern wars are punishments from God- but there have been many times that it was said about natural disasters. Whenever that happens, immediately a bunch of other Christians stand up and say "no, we DON'T believe this disaster was a punishment from God, and no one should say that." Which is good, but... but we also need to be doing the work of grappling with the biblical passages that said exactly that. Wars and natural disasters being sent by God as a correct punishment for sin is a huge theme in the Old Testament. Yes, it's in the bible, but it's still wrong.
And that's the way I read Jesus' words in Matthew 24, back when I was in high school. But no, it makes much more sense to read them as Jesus describing what actually happens, not what is just.
I can't imagine what it's like for the refugees from Ukraine who need to flee their homes. And for those who are pregnant or taking care of a newborn, it's even worse. You just want to give your kid the best life you can... and...
Well, me being sad about it doesn't help anyone. I encourage everyone to direct your feelings of compassion toward doing things which can make a difference. Donate to the UN Refugee Agency.
Jesus pointed it out all the way back in Matthew 24. It's still true today. It's always true. When there is a huge disaster, it doesn't target people who are the most "sinful" or "deserving of punishment" or anything like that. That's a fantasy- it never works that way. It hurts the people who are already the most vulnerable. It hurts pregnant people. It hurts children.
-------
-------
Related:
Why Does the Kingdom of Heaven Belong to Children?
-------------------
This post is part of a series on the gospel of Matthew.
No comments:
Post a Comment