“And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:43-44
We love to justify the horrible things we do by calling something what it is not. Notice what Elizabeth says. “The baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Yet, today, when we seek to kill little humans by abortion, we call them “clumps of cells,” or use the cold, clinical term “fetus.” If the child is wanted, however, we happily call it “a baby.”
It is much easier to kill when we make our target impersonal. The Japanese became Japs and Nips. The Germans became Krauts and Nazis. Any Asian enemy became Gooks. If you defended Iraq, you became an Insurgent. Anyone defending Afghanistan became Taliban, whether part of that group or not. If you are one of the thousands suffering in Gaza you are obviously Hamas. Innocent non-combatants become “collateral damage, and to justify their deaths we blame it on the “enemy.” “It’s THEIR fault that THEIR people are dying. All they need to do is surrender.”
Often we forget that the people who die through violence ARE people. They are not numbers. They are not cartoonish characters of some national or ethnic trait. They, like John and Jesus, have mothers and fathers. They were (often are) babies and children. Before we so gleefully pull a trigger or have a chuckle over the death of some group, we might want to remember that. We might also want to remember that we are all made in the image of God, and for such as these, Jesus also died.
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for life. When I look around at this world, help me to see the inherent dignity in all living things. Most importantly, help me to recognize the dignity of your people, made in your image, imbued with your traits and qualities. Help me to love others as you love them. Let me act with humility and compassion to all, as Jesus did. Amen.