Today’s Scripture Reading (November 5, 2016): 2 Kings 5
Some years ago a woman came to me with a serious problem. She believed that she was pregnant. She had borne a number of children and was now a little older than the average mother, and she had been told that carrying another child would likely kill her. Yet, she was also a Christian and firmly believed that abortion was wrong. And so she had come to my office seeking advice. To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the decision.
I am a Christian, but I also consider myself to be Pro-Choice. Now, before you get too angry with me, let me explain my stand. I am against abortion. I cannot state that too strongly. But what my pro-life brothers and sisters seem to fail to understand is that the life of the mother is as important as that of the child. The stereotypical idea of the abortionist who is too busy with life to give birth to the child that she has conceived is true only in the minority of cases. And I totally understand the anger against that scenario. But the more familiar scene is of a frightened little girl (this decision always seems to make us feel very small) making the worst decision in her life – and it is a decision that she will pay for with guilt for the rest of her life. I know, because I come in contact with her five, ten and twenty years later, and the guilt of what was done has never lessened. It rages with the same ferocity as it did at the moment the abortion took place. I have seen the rallies held outside of abortion clinics, I have heard the venom spewed by those against abortion at the scared girls contemplating it. And I am convinced that Jesus is not holding the protest sign outside the clinic. He is holding the girl inside the clinic. Because at this moment in time, it is not one life that is at stake – it is two. As a church, we have done a lousy job at understanding that.
In the last debate, Hillary Clinton said that in cases where the mother’s life was at stake, the fate of the pregnancy should not be decided by the government. It should be determined by the family. As she spoke, the consultation between myself and this woman seeking advice was all that came to my mind. At that moment, as a pastor, I had nothing to say. The child was of infinite value to God, but the loss of a mother to a large family in the prime of her life would have its own adverse effects through the years. I could not advise. And I would not want any government legislating what should come next. That had to be a family decision in consultation with a doctor. I am convinced of this.
We have struggled with Elisha’s words here. There are only three of them, yet they are troubling – “Go in peace.” Naaman has just admitted that when he enters the temple of the false God Rimmon, probably a representation of either Ba’al or Hadad whose full name is Hadad-Rimmon, which his master would bow to the god, and he would have to bow as well, being pulled down by the weight of his master. And the question is whether Elisha with his short response is affirming idol worship with the body as long as the heart is worshipping the true God. If so, this would be the only place in the Bible to make that assertion.
But it would seem more likely that Elisha is acknowledging what some battles must be fought between God and us. Ultimately, it is God who convicts us of our sin – and some battles have to be decided by the one who knows our hearts. No matter what it might have been that I would advise this mother on that day in my office, and no matter what it might have been that Elisha might have wanted to say to Naaman, we would have been wrong. Sometimes the best thing that we can say is “Go in peace.” And keep your spirit open to the moving of the God who knows best and loves you most.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 6
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