“Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?”

-George Bernard Shaw, “Saint Joan”

My friend and teacher Rabbi Arthur Waskow posted a brilliant piece today on his Shalom Center website. Echoing the words above of Bernard Shaw’s repentant judge watching Joan of Arc burn at the stake, he links the question to various spiritual and moral crises of the ages:

“Must Rabbi Akiba’s body be torn by iron rakes in every generation because some of us lack imagination?

Must the Six Million be gassed to death in every generation because some of us lack not imagination of the horror, but compassion for the “Other” who is seen as not really human?

Must 29 Muslims be machine-gunned at prayer in the Tomb of Abraham because some of us are filled with fear, contempt, and hatred?  -– and must their deaths be renewed in every generation, as when  the Dawabsheh family in Palestine were burned alive in their own home? 

Must 30 Jews in the midst of celebrating Passover be blown to shreds in every generation because some of us are filled with fear, contempt, and hatred?  

 Must Martin Luther King and Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman and James Cheney  be murdered in every generation because some of us become addicted to their own power and protect it with their cruelty?

Must Cardinal Romero be murdered as he chanted the Mass and Jean Donovan, Maura Clarke, and four other Catholic lay religious sisters be raped and murdered in every generation because their work for the poor threatened the Salvadoran government?  

Must Emmett Till be lynched and Eric Garner be choked to death in every generation because Black lives don’t matter? 

Must thousands die in the most powerful tornado ever recorded because some of us would burn the Earth to make a super-profit – and because some of us lack the imagination to see our planet choking, hear it wailing, ‘I can’t breathe!'”

Reb Arthur and Bernard Shaw are proof that prophecy continues in every generation, and we either hear the voice of our prophets and return to a path of wholeness, or as generations have before us, suffer the consequences of continual fragmentation.

As over a billion Christians on Good Friday recall and honor the story of a crucifixion 2 millennia ago, we can all ask ourselves Shaw’s question. Can we remember the lessons of the past, in our personal lives, in our community life, in our planetary future, or must we keep repeating them? If we can learn the teachings and walk a different path, then true redemption can occur, and the crucifixions can end.

What painful lesson do you need to remember and redeem today, so as not to repeat it?

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George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic and polemicist whose influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion(1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.