Deuteronomy 21:1-9 describes a ritual that God's people had to carry out
whenever anyone was found slain and it was not known who did the killing.
Scripture reads, "[Y]our elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall
measure the distance to the cities which are around him that is slain" (v.2).
Those from the nearest city then needed to sacrifice a heifer, and their elders
were to pray these words: "Our hands did not shed this blood, neither did our
eyes see it shed. Forgive, O Lord, thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed,
and set not the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel; but
let the guilt of blood be forgiven them" (v.8).
What is happening here? Obviously, when innocent blood is shed, something
happens in the land; something happens to the people in the land in their
relationship to God, even if they are not the ones who shed the blood. As
the account of the first murder makes clear, the innocent, though slain, still
speak. "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground"
(Gen. 4:10).
The people of God are bound up in an inescapable mutuality, a responsibility
for one another that transcends their own choosing. We see again, in Isaiah
1:10-20, that God tells His people "Your hands are full of blood" (v.
15). They were not doing the killing, but because the killing was
occurring in their midst, they had a responsibility to intervene. Hence the
passage continues with the instructions, "Seek justice, correct oppression"
(v.17).
What of us? Our land is polluted with the innocent blood of tens of millions
of aborted children. Is it enough in the sight of God that we ourselves
have not done the killing? Scripture says this is not enough. We know where
the killing is occurring, we know how, and we know who is doing it. Abortion
is publicly advertised and advocated. Because it occurs in our midst, we are
inescapably involved.
What, then, are we to do? We are to repent. We need to see abortion
not just as somebody else's sin, but as our sin. Even if we have never
participated in an abortion, we must ask forgiveness for it. It is easy
to blame abortion on those who do it and support it. But we must also blame
ourselves. This is a spiritual dynamic which has to undergird all of our other
activities to end abortion. Usually, people think that the spiritual thing to do
about abortion is to "pray." Truly, we must pray. But first and foremost we are
called to repent, to take responsibility for the innocent blood that has
been shed, and then to intervene to save the helpless.
Fortunately, the blood of another innocent victim also speaks. Jesus' blood
"speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel" (Heb. 12:24). Let us repent
of abortion, wash ourselves in Jesus' blood, and get to work defending the
innocent.
