Yesterday, we were watching part of a wonderful series on photography from The Great Courses. All of the photographers have worked for National Geographic, so the lectures are usually a treat for the eyes, as well as being informative about the tricks of the trade. Yesterday's lecture, however, was haunting -- one that I wish I had not seen.
Jodi Cobb worked for National Geographic for over three decades; she had a passion not so much for nature, or even for photography itself, but for people -- for being on the "inside" of their lives, for seeing how they live, for understanding how they feel. Her greatest "mission" was the story she did on human trafficking -- on 21st century slaves. Although I had heard of the horrors of human trafficking, I had never actually seen its effects with my own eyes. Now, I cannot forget what I have seen. Jodi Cobb is not a powerful speaker; in fact, she speaks slowly and even haltingly. She does not "persuade" her audience in words -- but her images cannot be dismissed from the mind. We see children around the world -- babies, in fact -- who are either kidnapped or sold into bondage by destitute parents; we see women who live and work in cages, who never leave their "cribs." We see children who sit at looms 14 hours a day weaving those expensive "hand-woven" rugs for our homes. Their bones are not strengthened by play; their eyesight grows dim through focusing continuously on the threads in front of their faces.
We discover in the photographic essay that the trafficking of human beings around the world is the world's second-largest criminal activity; 27 million people are bought and sold against their will, held captive, brutalized, and exploited for profit. Jodi Cobb reports that she was in danger, in fear, and in tears throughout the entire project.
The Book of Genesis tries to tell us of the accumulating and cumulative nature of sin -- but it is so compressed that we do not "see" it in the pages of the book. We skim right past it, and then are surprised and caught up short by the grief of God in Chapter 6 -- the grief that brings about a world-wide flood, because God was sorry that He had made mankind. Last night in bed, after seeing Jodi Cobb's journalistic photography, I experienced a little of God's grief; after all, I had seen only a glimpse of what is continually before His eyes -- the evil that is in the heart of man. We fail to comprehend the "wrath of God" because we cannot see the extent of evil on the face of the earth.
The Book of Isaiah again attempts to verbalize the evil that destroys the earth and all that live therein, but again, until we see it for ourselves, his words fall short:
Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption.
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him....
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness--
only wounds and welts and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil (Chapter 1).
One thing that Genesis does indicate is the "passing on" of evil from one generation to the next, with the evil intensified in each generation. There is no "cure" for wounds inflicted, wounds that demand to be inflicted on the next generation. There can be no "peace on earth" until the wounded heart of man is "cleansed" and "bandaged" and "soothed with oil."
We are not all human traffickers, thank God, but we have all passed on the injuries we ourselves have received -- injuries of rejection, of pain, of selfishness, etc. There is not one of us who has not injured another in some way; it is not always our "fault," but we nevertheless pass on to others the wounds we cannot bear for ourselves.
"Original Sin" is in our DNA; the best of families cannot eradicate it, even with the best of intentions and efforts. God has no grandchildren; each one of us must eventually face the evil in ourselves and cry out for salvation. Even the great St. Paul would write: I do not understand myself at all; in my mind, I agree with the law of God, but the very thing I have determined not to do is the very thing that I do -- and what I have determined to do is the very thing I do not do....O unhappy man that I am, who will rescue from this body of death? (Romans 7).
And he goes on the give the answer to our human dilemma in Romans 8: Thanks be to God! It has been done for us by Jesus Christ!...the Spirit of God has placed within us the law of life which overcomes in us the law of sin and death (paraphrased).
When we pray "Deliver us from evil," we pray to be released from the evil that dwells within our very cells, as well as to be delivered from the effects of evil in those around us. We pray that the world be delivered from the evil that causes men to buy and sell others for profit and consumption. We pray that the captives of greed. lust, and indifference be released, and that their bodies and souls be healed of the scars inflicted by evil. We pray death to those who inflict their will on others -- and resurrection of a "new creation," the person created in the image and likeness of God.
Baptism is the outward sign of an inward process: "Unless you are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God." Being "born again" means that first the "old man," the "natural man," has died, in order that the "new creation" be born. Please, deliver us from evil!
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