Today’s Scripture Reading (March 19,
2014): Jeremiah 32
On February
19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. The order
allowed Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones which, in
turn, cleared the way for the United States to declare the Western Coast of the
nation as a restricted zone. The result was that Japanese Americans who lived
on the coast could be detained in relocation centers. By the end of the war,
over 100,000 people of Japanese descent were detained in these centers – and 62%
of these detainees were American citizens.
The incident
became one of the black mark incidents against the United States that occurred during
the Second World War. Specifically, the incident has resulted in numerous court
cases asking the same basic question – are there any boundaries placed on a
nation with regard to the actions that are permissible to be taken against its
own people? What moral limits exist on the treatment of people during times of
conflict? Specifically, the question hovers around the central tenet of law
stating that a person is innocent until proven guilty. For the vast majority of
the detainees, there were no legal charges ever even considered, let alone laid
and proven. Innocent Americans had their rights suspended without any
deliberation or objective reasoning. The rights were suspended simply because of
their race – and the belief that some might be in league with a foreign power.
As much as
we want the question to be an easy one, it seldom is. And some firmly believe that
during extraordinary moments of war, extraordinary measures are necessary. But
those on the other side of the argument are just as adamant – no circumstances
can ever be used as an excuse to take action against innocent citizens of the
nation. To do so would be an immoral act.
Jeremiah was
a citizen of Jerusalem, but as the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian Army
begins, Jeremiah finds himself in his own relocation center. The reason for the
detainment is found in the prophecies of Jeremiah. In his effort to faithfully
carry the message of God to the national leaders in Jerusalem, he makes himself
an enemy of the state. The leaders simply did not like the what Jeremiah felt
God was telling him. Jeremiah would have considered himself a patriot of Judah,
but the king questioned his loyalty, and detains the prophet.
At the heart
of the conflict was really the why hiding behind the Babylonian domination of
Judah. For the leaders of the nation, they could not believe that God would subject
them to the same exile that their northern brothers had suffered. They were
different, and there was no good that could come out of a Babylonian exile. And
while I am not sure that Jeremiah really understood, he had clearly heard the
voice of God and understood that God intended good out of everything that was
about to happen – even a defeat in war at the hands of the Babylonians.
We sometime
face numerous challenges, but if we learn the lesson from Jeremiah, even the
bad things in our lives God can use for good- if we will let him.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Jeremiah 33
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