Lessons from history?

Jane Denniston September 24, 2022 0 1

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Matthew 12: 38-41 (NRSVA)

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ 39 But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. 41 The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! 

How do we deal with history, especially when it is painful or controversial? Can we simply rewrite it? I have just returned from a week’s holiday in Berlin, and it is salutary to see the way in which the Germans deal with their recent painful and abhorrent history. They don’t pretend it didn’t happen and they have not removed the evidence that it did. They acknowledge it with honesty and bravery, making clear how awful it was, but also what they’ve learned and how much has changed. I think they could give us lessons about dealing with our painful past here in the UK.

It’s easy to look back and say, ‘what were you thinking!’ It’s easy with the benefit of hindsight to know where the behaviour of our ancestors departed from the teaching of the Bible, and to criticise and condemn on that basis. Today’s reading has a warning for us in verse 41: ‘The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!’ I am convinced that people of the future will look back at us, and say, ‘What were you thinking!’ because we are still, naturally, far from perfect. Things we take for granted today may well be shown in the future to be a departure from the teaching of the Bible. For example, one only has to consider the effects of our lifestyle on the planet and the causes of climate change to see that possibility. Stewardship of the earth does not mean plundering its vast resources without restraint or thought for the consequences.

PRAYER:

Father, forgive us

for being so quick to judge

and so slow to consider the log in our own eye.

Help us to view everyone

with the same compassion and mercy

with which you view us.

Help us to repent of our past

and acknowledge it

without needing to pretend it didn’t happen

but rather being honest about our faults and failings.

Help us to recognise

that your mercy and forgiveness

gives everyone a fresh start.

Help us to help our society

understand the value of forgiveness

and the healing in reconciliation. Amen