This past summer my husband and I visited London to celebrate his 40th birthday. We haven't done much world travel, so this was a big trip for us. While we were there we visited the National Gallery. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. Thousands of paintings by the most world renowned artists adorned its walls. There was a sense of experiencing something much larger than oneself, generations of art and emotion everywhere. Many of the paintings were religious in nature. There were so many beautiful paintings of Christ and a plethora of other Biblical characters. But as we looked around, a painting caught my eye that confused me. It was a painting of the Biblical account of Susanna and the Elders. Brian and I looked at each other and asked "Who is Susanna?". I couldn't remember ever learning about her in a Bible class or reading that name in my Bible. So I looked up the story on my phone out of curiosity and found out that it was a part of the Apocrypha - writings that are included in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Bibles that were omitted from the Protestant Bible because they are not in the Hebrew Bible. This past week I got to study the apocrypha again in my class and the story of Susanna hit me even harder in light of what is going on right now in our culture. Allow me to explain.
Susanna was a godly, married woman. She was bathing in her garden when two elders saw her and were attracted to her. They approached her as she tried to return to her home and told her that unless she agreed to have sex with them they would accuse her of committing adultery with a young man. Susanna refused to comply, and they had her arrested and convicted to death. But a man named Daniel (this story is in the Greek book of Daniel) interrupts the proceedings and insists that they should question the elders to prevent the death of an innocent woman. The two elders are cross-examined to get their account of finding Susanna committing adultery with the young man. Their details do not match when they name two very different types of trees as the meeting place. Their lies are revealed, and instead of Susanna dying, the two elders are put to death.
Now, I have no idea if this story actually happened, but clearly this was a concern in society even in the times when the Biblical canon was being formed. Imagine Susanna, a woman in a man's society. She is threatened by "elders" who I would assume would be a very intimidating force. And she refuses to let them use her. She doesn't give in to the system that tells her that she is merely a woman and has to take whatever a man may throw at her. She stands up for herself even if it means death. And who comes to her defense, but a man? A good man came to her defense. And a good man stopped the bad men from succeeding in their evil.
Almost every day right now in the news we are hearing of another big name who is accused of sexual abuse or misconduct. Men are losing their jobs and their good names. Women who have been silent for years, carrying their scars in every moment of their lives, are speaking out and saying "me too". There is a movement of women (and men) who have been abused banding together and saying "THIS STOPS NOW". And it is a beautiful and utterly devastating moment in our history. Beautiful because the darkness is being brought to light and the perpetrators can no longer hide. Devastating because the broad spectrum of sexual sickness in our culture is being laid out on a table in plain sight for all of us to see. I am in a couple of Facebook groups who have had discussions about this topic and the testimonies from women and men there are devastating. But the most devastating are the stories in my children's ministry group of children who are dealing with this right now. And I have to be honest, you guys, I am mad. I am mad that we live in a world where women and children are regularly victimized by sex-crazed men. I am mad that we have a porn industry that brings in BILLIONS of dollars every year, and no one is calling out the fact that this is destroying our men (and some women) and ultimately leading to the kinds of crimes that are being committed by hijacking normal and healthy attitudes toward sex. I am mad that sex has been turned into something that God never intended for it to be, and yet we wonder what has gone wrong. The stories, the tears, the lives in pieces, the scars, the faces, they are almost too much to bear. And that anger turns to grief. And out of the grief something must happen.
Susanna may not have made it into my Bible, but I think she has something valuable to teach us right now. First of all, she shows us the courage and strength of the woman who stands up and tells her story instead of hiding behind her fear of the more powerful aggressor. When these women (and men) speak out, WE HAVE TO HONOR THEIR PAIN. We have to listen and HEAR them. Secondly, WE HAVE TO BE DANIEL. Someone had to stand up for Susanna here. She had no status to defend herself. Had Daniel not stepped in, she would have died an innocent woman, and the evil men who accused her would have walked free. There are people who need a Daniel. They are afraid to speak up without it. And, ladies, certainly we can stand up together and support each other. Our voices matter, and they need to be heard. But, men, we desperately need you here. We have to have good men stepping up the plate and speaking out against sexual abuse. We have to have men who are willing to take a stand against pornography and men's clubs. We have to have men who will insist that women are equal to men and in no way lesser. We have to have men who will stand up next to these women and say "NOT ME". "I will never treat a woman like she is an object for my pleasure." "I will never harm a child for my own gain." "I will never condone this behavior by any of my fellow men." "I won't feed into a pornography culture that is creating a bleak future for our boys and our girls." Men, please start a "NOT ME" movement to remind us all that there are really good men in this world and to remind the men who have fallen that there is a better way to live. The abusers of this world are broken. They need you too. They need to you model a sexually pure life. They need the love of Jesus that can transform them. And, Church, we have so much work to do in healing what has happened and continues to happen in our culture. We have to realize that our buildings are full of people who have experienced this sickness from both sides, and we have to talk about the things that are hard to talk about. And we have to STAND UP FOR THE OPPRESSED. It is our mission. It is our calling. We can't be silent about this issue. Be the Daniel for all the Susannas. Be the Daniel. BE THE DANIEL. Otherwise the innocent will continue to fall.
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