BY DAVID O’BRIEN
We’re expecting a baby in August. Early in this pregnancy, we learned that Rachel’s red blood cells consider the baby’s blood to be an intruder, a threat. Right now the risk is low but if it increases, my wife’s body will protect itself by getting rid of this "intruder". In a sense, the mother might kill her baby.
Praying in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic, I see the same thing happening. Our society treats some babies as unwelcome intruders. They threaten our deeply cherished values of freedom, comfort, control, security and the pursuit of the American dream. They interrupt our national quest for happiness and the American standard of living. Such intruders must be dealt with, aborted, disposed of. Mothers literally kill their own children.
During the Roman Empire, the system of Pater familias placed the eldest male in charge of the household, the property, the family, and the slaves. Accordingly, a child born on his property -son, daughter, grandchild or slave baby-was brought before him to learn his/her fate. If this man decided to welcome that child, he picked it up and placed it in his arms, signifying to all that the infant would be officially accepted as a member of his household. If, however, he decided he did not want that child-the child was sickly, he had too many children and slaves already, or he was having a bad day-he turned his back and walked away from the child. The child then was either sold into slavery or taken outside of the property, put on a hillside and left to die.
An ancient letter written by Hilarion in the year 1 BC instructed his pregnant wife that if she delivered, "a girl, to cast it out". She was to throw the baby into the dumpster and treat it as garbage. "It" was undesired, a nuisance to be tossed aside as refuse. Here, the father kills his child.
Finally, I hear Jesus as He responds to the men of His day (Matt 19:14), men He has chosen to be His heralds of a new world order, men who have the power to throw their babies in the garbage. They say to him: "Get these annoying children, these worthless street urchins, out of our way so we can minister to those who matter." Were these the children who had been left on the hillside to die, abandoned by their parents, family, tribe and society?
I imagine Jesus responding: "Bring the children unto me. And by the way, if you don’t become like them-survivors, fi ghters, innocents who carry the sins of men like you-if you do not become like them, souls who have experienced hate and still choose to love, hearts that refuse to believe that God created them to be thrown away, if you do not become like that, you’ll never enter the Kingdom of God. You’ll stay in this hell you have created where some people matter and some don’t. That may be business as usual in this world, but there is no room for that in my Father’s kingdom. Now bring those beautiful street children to me and pray that God might save you through their innocent suffering."
The apostles were undoubtedly shocked.....again. What was Jesus saying? Children matter? That didn’t make any more sense than the poor are blessed and the rich probably won’t make it to heaven. The religious authorities are missing the point. Women and sinners are to be welcome. What kind of kingdom will this be?
Simply put, God’s kingdom is where one’s value does not come from how busy you are, what you can buy or sell, whether you are athletic or severely handicapped, if you are young and beautiful or old and sick, what kind of letters come after your name, or whether you possess documents that say you are "legal". In Jesus’ kingdom, human value is standard equipment on the model. Whatever may become of a person’s life, they never relinquish their status as a son, a daughter, a child of the only Father whose opinion matters.
That is what Jesus is telling us by embracing the children and welcoming them into His arms. "You belong to my Father. You are part of my family. Don’t let anyone tell you differently."
About David O’Brien
David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org.
We’re expecting a baby in August. Early in this pregnancy, we learned that Rachel’s red blood cells consider the baby’s blood to be an intruder, a threat. Right now the risk is low but if it increases, my wife’s body will protect itself by getting rid of this "intruder". In a sense, the mother might kill her baby.
Praying in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic, I see the same thing happening. Our society treats some babies as unwelcome intruders. They threaten our deeply cherished values of freedom, comfort, control, security and the pursuit of the American dream. They interrupt our national quest for happiness and the American standard of living. Such intruders must be dealt with, aborted, disposed of. Mothers literally kill their own children.
During the Roman Empire, the system of Pater familias placed the eldest male in charge of the household, the property, the family, and the slaves. Accordingly, a child born on his property -son, daughter, grandchild or slave baby-was brought before him to learn his/her fate. If this man decided to welcome that child, he picked it up and placed it in his arms, signifying to all that the infant would be officially accepted as a member of his household. If, however, he decided he did not want that child-the child was sickly, he had too many children and slaves already, or he was having a bad day-he turned his back and walked away from the child. The child then was either sold into slavery or taken outside of the property, put on a hillside and left to die.
An ancient letter written by Hilarion in the year 1 BC instructed his pregnant wife that if she delivered, "a girl, to cast it out". She was to throw the baby into the dumpster and treat it as garbage. "It" was undesired, a nuisance to be tossed aside as refuse. Here, the father kills his child.
Finally, I hear Jesus as He responds to the men of His day (Matt 19:14), men He has chosen to be His heralds of a new world order, men who have the power to throw their babies in the garbage. They say to him: "Get these annoying children, these worthless street urchins, out of our way so we can minister to those who matter." Were these the children who had been left on the hillside to die, abandoned by their parents, family, tribe and society?
I imagine Jesus responding: "Bring the children unto me. And by the way, if you don’t become like them-survivors, fi ghters, innocents who carry the sins of men like you-if you do not become like them, souls who have experienced hate and still choose to love, hearts that refuse to believe that God created them to be thrown away, if you do not become like that, you’ll never enter the Kingdom of God. You’ll stay in this hell you have created where some people matter and some don’t. That may be business as usual in this world, but there is no room for that in my Father’s kingdom. Now bring those beautiful street children to me and pray that God might save you through their innocent suffering."
The apostles were undoubtedly shocked.....again. What was Jesus saying? Children matter? That didn’t make any more sense than the poor are blessed and the rich probably won’t make it to heaven. The religious authorities are missing the point. Women and sinners are to be welcome. What kind of kingdom will this be?
Simply put, God’s kingdom is where one’s value does not come from how busy you are, what you can buy or sell, whether you are athletic or severely handicapped, if you are young and beautiful or old and sick, what kind of letters come after your name, or whether you possess documents that say you are "legal". In Jesus’ kingdom, human value is standard equipment on the model. Whatever may become of a person’s life, they never relinquish their status as a son, a daughter, a child of the only Father whose opinion matters.
That is what Jesus is telling us by embracing the children and welcoming them into His arms. "You belong to my Father. You are part of my family. Don’t let anyone tell you differently."
About David O’Brien
David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org.
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