By: The Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn
The first reading this month recounts David’s response to his own sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, sin that included covetousness, deception, adultery, and murder. What was David’s response? From what the Scriptures tell us, not much. Yet God in his mercy did not let the matter alone, but sent Nathan.
Particularly interesting is David’s response to Nathan’s parable. David quickly sees the injustice of the rich man who took his poor neighbor’s lamb, and is rightly angered. But he couldn’t see the log in his own eye. As Nathan said, “you are the man!”
“You care so much about the unborn, why don’t you care about born children?” So goes the well-worn objection to those who oppose abortion. Well, we do. The church cares about all children. As Fr. Frank Pavone has written, the absurdity of the charge is akin to accusing one who serves the blind while not caring about seeing people. We care about the unborn because we love people. And that will frequently lead us to a particular concern for the particularly vulnerable.
Yet we should not be too quick, for, as Jesus warned us, it is easy miss the log in our own eye. David’s sense of justice was alive, even in his blindness. He was right to condemn the rich man in Nathan’s parable. But he was both utterly inconsistent and self-serving. Justice is not a matter that can be applied in one instance and neglected in another. I cannot apply it to you, and not to me.
Christian pro-life witness should encompass both standing for the unborn (however one is called to do that) and serving the lonely elderly widow down the street. So while the charge of hypocrisy against the Christian community is often a smokescreen, we do well to keep watch and ensure that we really do love our neighbors—born and unborn.