'Usurp' Is The Name of That Dragon
Blog Series #3 Authority, Part 5
Blog Series #3 Authority
Part 5: ‘Usurp’ is the Name of That Dragon
(If you are a new reader, welcome! For an overview and introduction to the conversation, I recommend starting here — then come back and catch up with me at this blog)
My mother-in-law, Karen, and I cried at the kitchen table. Karen had been hoping that I would take over decision-making authority (often referred to as Power of Attorney or POA) for her husband’s end-of-life decisions so that she wouldn’t have to. I hoped that her husband, Dale, lying in a hospital bed in the next room, could hear us so that he would know that I was upholding his wishes about his own care. I wanted him to be reassured that I would never try to usurp the power he had given to his wife in his Living Will. Karen was 78 years old at the time. She clearly did not want POA responsibility for her husband at the end of his battle with cancer.
It would have been extremely easy for me to usurp all the authority that comes with a designation of Power-of-Attorney from my mother-in-law at that moment. She actually wanted to hand that authority over to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it, it’s that
it was not MY power to wield.
At the kitchen table that morning, I handed that power back to her because it was the right thing to do.
Because it was the legal thing to do.
This moment ranked high in the scenes my Creator chose to bring me back to as He answered my question: “What is YOUR opinion on abortion?”
The concept of ‘usurp’ loomed large as I continued on my journey.
One of the books I discovered on my quest was Reverend Doctor Rebecca Todd Peters’
It was there that I learned for the first time that abortion is not actually mentioned in the Bible
at all.
Evangelical preachers had me believing otherwise for at least two decades of my adult life.
I learned from Kira Schlesinger in her book ProChoice and Christian that one possible exception might be found in Exodus 21:22-24, footnote ‘a’ in the New International Version, where a miscarriage (‘spontaneous abortion’ in medical terms) results in a monetary fine for the fighting people who harm a pregnant woman and cause her pregnancy to fail. As I conducted my own study of the passage, two things occurred to me:
When ’she gives birth prematurely’ is interpreted as ‘she has a miscarriage’ in verse 22, then
a. the terms ‘no serious injury’ in verse 22 and ‘serious injury’ in verse 23 refer only to the pregnant woman not the miscarried fetus, and
b. the value of the human fetus was reduced to a monetary fine by ancient Hebrews.
The reason for the fine was not because a death had occurred, but because the woman’s authority to make choices about her own body, decide whether to carry a pregnancy full-term or not, had been USURPED by the two guys wrestling near her. Since wives were the property of their husbands in those days, it was actually the husband’s authority over his wife’s body that had been usurped by the two fighting men. The men had to pay the fine to the husband for usurping his authority over his wife and, by extension, the life-support system her body powered, maintained, and regulated.
Recently, Rabbi Daniel Fink made a third observation about this text in a fascinating conversation with Rebecca Todd Peters in Boise on November 9, 2022. If you follow this link to the conversation, Rabbi Fink begins to speak at minute marker 21. He interprets verse 22 of Exodus 21 as referring to a miscarriage, and explains to protestant Christians that Jews never have considered an aborted fetus to be a murdered human being. The evidence of this is in the fact that Exodus 21 is establishing judicial law in regard to capital punishment – an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, life for a life, etc. Yet, a human life is not levied as the penalty for causing the spontaneous abortion of a human fetus.
Only a monetary fine is required as compensation to the husband, the owner of the damaged property.
‘Usurp’ is the name of that Dragon
Too often in this world, I witness one selfish person usurp the power and authority of another.
As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, I am reflecting on the way in which Dr. King’s entire adult life was a response to the many ways privileged white men consistently usurp power and authority from people of color. White people have been stripping cultural and economic power from those of color so frequently and consistently – and for so many centuries – that we barely notice it is happening. We become blind to a phenomenon that is commonplace, woven into the fabric of our thinking. European colonists have been usurping power from indigenous people around the world for so long, many of us require a jolt of awakening to recognize the injustice.
This Dragon creeps in slowly, almost imperceptibly.
It terrorizes and devours the marginalized while others sleep.
It is Insidious.
It is the giant dragon that snores placidly beside us
because we allow it to.
As I type this document January 16, 2023, the leader of Russia has his greedy eye on usurping all of neighboring Ukraine’s power for himself. The Dragon’s invasion has been slow but certain in its approach.
Decades long.
Purposeful.
Insidious.
Today, all of Ukraine is united in resilience against this Dragon that seeks only to devour its neighbor for its own personal gain
and spit out the bones.
Just as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood resolutely against the Dragon, ‘Usurp,’ so do millions of Ukrainians today.
I see this Dragon lurking in shadows all around me as men usurp the authority God has given women over their own bodies.
My blood boils at this injustice!
I write this blog in defiance!
and then . . .
God whispers within my spirit.
It occurs to me that what Martin Luther King Jr. did so brilliantly was navigate two powerful yet opposing themes in the Bible, then embody those themes with his own consistent choice and action. Prophetic Scriptures, such as Isaiah 58, call for God’s faithful to advocate for social justice, to be a Voice for those who have no voice within our social constructs. We are called to slay the dragons of oppression that would usurp the power of the poor and disenfranchised among us.
In the New Testament, both Jesus and the Apostle Paul also challenge believers to do this
AND
– somehow —
love the enemy! (Matthew 5:44 and Romans 12:17-21, NIV)
It is a faith that seems impossible to manage. How can we stand up to the Dragon, advocate for those the Dragon would devour, and then . . . love the Dragon too??
Yet, we have an example of this impossible contradiction in the peaceful marches and effective life of ordinary people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(My interpretation of Exodus 21 as well as the conversation between Rabbi Daniel Fink and Rebecca Todd Peters serve as a segue into the more Biblical portion of my Tattered Journal. Next week I will delve into a new series in which I explore ‘God’s Design for ProCreation’ and how that impacts my ProChoice stance regarding reproductive rights for women.)
