Today’s Scripture Reading (February 17, 2020): Isaiah 21
History seems
to come in cycles. We are cautioned that we need to learn from the past, but we
seldom seem to have the will to complete that task. And in a world that covets
its free speech, the task becomes even more daunting. Free speech ensures
everyone has the right to say what it is that is on their mind. But a quick
survey of our social media pages proves that not everything is worth mentioning.
So, in early
February 2020, when the German province of Thuringia elected a state premier
with far-right leanings, we began to hear cries coming from the watchtower. It
was the first time since the disaster of the Second World War that a German state
had elected their prime representative with the help of the far-right voters,
and the action crossed a cultural prohibition in a country that is still
haunted by a Nazi-dominated past. Some saw it as the beginning of something
even more terrible, noting that it was Thuringia who had first elected a Nazi
minister to the country’s parliament. And the cry “never again” was raised once
more in the German countryside.
But there is a
bigger problem than just the one in Germany. Right-leaning politics, of which I
admit I am a part, has moved further and further to the extreme right all over
the world. We raise the cry that we have to defend ourselves from the progressive
left, that these far-right leaders are the standard-bearers for a movement of
which we are a part. But we miss the warning of history. For a moment, we leave
our watchtowers, and we believe that we can control the far-right, hedge them
in, and in the process, save ourselves from the sins of the left. But the
reality is that we can’t do that. And the dangers of the far-right are equal
to, and actually, I believe, more significant, than those that come from the
left. If left unchecked, the far-right will bring with it disaster once more.
Isaiah begins
to paint a picture for his readers. And it starts with the lonely lookout on a
watchtower. Day after day, the lookout persistently maintains his presence at
his post. And day after day, and night after night, there is nothing to report.
It would have been easy for the lookout to decide that his presence wasn’t needed,
that occupying the watchtower was a waste of time. Still, the lookout stays at
his post, watching for something. And life passes by his perch.
But one day,
all of the watching pays off. The event that the lookout probably didn’t even
know he was looking for happens. Babylon has fallen, and the lookout gets to
share the news that would have gone unshared if he had left his post on the
watchtower.
Now it is our
turn. The blood of World War II cries out to us, “never again.” But the problem
is not just in Thuringia. It is in us; it is present in our reactions and
allowances. It is time to man the watchtower and cry out against the danger,
and for the good news that we see all around us. Because the seeds that grew
into two World Wars is still hiding in our hearts, waiting for us to leave our
watchtowers, and to forget the blood shed through our needless conflicts. The
seeds are waiting for us to forget “never again.”
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
22
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