Easter Celebration
by MTS Director Chuck Garriott
The year was 1943 in Warsaw, Poland. Easter came late that year, as it will in 2019. Christians flooding the streets after Easter morning worship services found themselves entertained in their nation's capital.
In Rescuers, Gay Block and Malka Drucker write the following:
“Hearts filled with Christian love, people went to look at the new unprecedented attraction that lay halfway across the city to the north, on the other side of the Ghetto wall, where Christ’s Jewish brethren suffered a new and terrible Calvary not by crucifixion but by fire… ‘But the Jews—they’re being roasted alive!’ There was awe and relief that not they but the others had attracted the fury and vengeance of the conqueror. There was also satisfaction.”
The Germans had occupied Poland since 1939 and were committed to cleansing the Jewish Warsaw ghetto of any remaining rebels. From a safe distance, the Easter crowd watched the purging. The persecuted, attempting to escape the burning buildings, were suspended on window sills or ledges before falling. German riflemen shot at them as they fell, and the delighted crowds would cheer uproariously.
We are appalled to read these descriptions, of course. But when I step back, I wonder: Would I have been equally amused that Easter Sunday? Would I have responded to the suffering of others with gaiety?
Perhaps we are faced with less dramatic and horrific circumstances, but in the face of others being treated poorly, do I reply in a similar manner? Is it possible that in some ways you might be tempted to the same? (Read More)
|
Commons is MTS's ministry to interns, providing a community for believers, seekers, skeptics, and anyone in between. We meet weekly, starting in May, for dinner and conversation as well as Bible studies and bringing in speakers to share about their life, work, and faith.
