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Having spent my professional life in church ministry as well as in human service positions such as social work, mental health, fire and police chaplaincy or working with intellectually challenged adults, I often perceive the world situation as undeniably peculiar and becoming more so with my every attempt to grasp some sense in its arrangement. As an example, I was already aware that on today’s date of April 10, in 1915, the Castbergan Child Laws were enacted in Norway as the first statutes in the world to protect children of extramarital relations, and my mind raced to pen lauding words of this action being a major step in the direction of civility in humane treatment and spirituality. But then I discovered that on the very same date 49 years before, in 1866, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was formed in New York City.

Now, allow me space enough to state unequivocally I strongly support both causes and concepts, but at the same time it struck me as being rather curious (!) that the civilized cultures of the world had to wait almost five decades to give children similar recognition and respect already enacted for animals.

Furthermore, the conundrum of the historical arrangement does not end there. For so long a period of time was the absence of child protection on the law books, that in 1874 when Mary Ellen Wilson, a New York City 6-year-old, was discovered abused and neglected, not only was there was no legal recourse for the social worker to employ on her behalf, the authorities were forced to take her abusers to court using the rationale that Mary Ellen, as an animal, was deserving of the state’s protection.

It is at this point that it would be all too easy for me to go off on the very easily embraceable tangent that children are precious and should be carefully nurtured, that Jesus welcomed them with loving arms and He envisioned them as models of Christian living we should all emulate. But of course, you already know and agree with that tenet.

It was then that another tidbit of history furtively crept in from far back in my childhood. In 1956, as the Cold War hung the world in cliff-hanging suspension, the premiere of Russia, Nikita Khrushchev, began denouncing the horrors of Joseph Stalin. More than six million Russians had suffered in his torture chambers, been assassinated by his goons, imprisoned on false charges, and even froze or starved to death in his Siberian gulags. In the midst of Khrushchev’s tirade against the inhumane dictator Stalin, a heckler blurted out for all attendees to hear clearly, “You were one of Stalin’s colleagues, why did you not stop him?” Khrushchev immediately blared out, “Who said that?” but only an eerie muteness filled the hall.

After several moments of exceptionally quiet suspense, the premier simply said, “Now you know why.”

He could have replied that he had been busy with his own work or that he did not have any proof of the abuses. He might have claimed to be supportive of the rule of law and order or even rationalized that Stalin’s programs would have eventually been the best resort for the people. But the truth was, just as the person who interrupted his speech but then retreated from identifying himself, Khrushchev had merely been selfishly safeguarding himself.

Every major wrong in the world is packaged in that same enigma. People want the ethically ideal action to be taken, but not at their personal expense.

Have you ever noticed in the gospels the use of verbs in the teachings of Jesus? He never mentioned appointing a study commission, waiting to see how things might pan out or being patient for a later time when the situation will be convenient. His teachings ended with verbs of committed conduct such as “come follow me,” “Go into all the world,” “take my yoke upon you,” and “feed my lambs.”

God’s call is for us to be doers and not to stand around waiting for suitableness of circumstances to be Christ-like.