At approximately 3:20 on the morning of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old Kitty Genovese was returning to her home in a nice, middle-class area of Queens, NY, from her job as a bar manager. She parked her red Fiat in a nearby parking lot, turned-off the lights and started the walk to her second floor apartment some 100 feet away. She got as far as a streetlight when a man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-floor apartment building nearby. She yelled, “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me!” Windows opened in the apartment building and a man’s voice shouted, “Let that girl alone.” The attacker looked up, shrugged and walked-off down the street. Genovese struggled to get to her feet. Lights went back off in the apartments. The attacker came back and stabbed her again. She again cried out, “I’m dying! I’m dying!” And again the lights came on and windows opened in the nearby apartments. The assailant again left and got into his car and drove away. Genovese staggered to her feet as a city bus drove by. It was now 3:35 a.m. The attacker returned once again. He found her in a doorway at the foot of the stairs and he stabbed her a third time--this time with a fatal consequence. It was 3:50 when the police received the first call. They responded quickly and within two minutes were at the scene. Genovese was already dead. The only person to call, a neighbor of Genovese, revealed that he had phoned only after much thought and after phoning a friend. He said, “I didn’t want to get involved.” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 27, 1964, p. 38.)
When I was in graduate school at the University of Iowa in 1978, I remember discussing this incident in class. The question was, Why didn’t anyone come to her rescue? Why did only one person call the police? Was it simply because no one wanted to get involved? Was it because people wondered what a young woman was doing out that late anyway? As budding social scientists, we were interested in learning why people act the way they do.
As a result of this incident, two social psychologists, Latané and Darley, began their research to identify the factors that influence why people may be reluctant to come to the aid of others. Their explanation has been called the bystander effect and says that an individual is less likely to provide assistance as the number of bystanders increases. In other words, if you think you are the only one available to help in an emergency, you will likely do it. But if you see others standing around, you will be less likely to act because you think someone else will do something.
What it really boils down to is the question, “How much responsibility do I have for my neighbor?” It is not a new question. In the Old Testament, after Cain killed Abel, he asked God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer, of course, is Yes. In the New Testament, when a lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan. The conclusion we are to draw is that my neighbor is anyone who is in need. There are no innocent bystanders.
Obadiah. Our scripture passage today hammers home the same point. The prophet Obadiah pronounces judgment on the country of Edom for standing by and allowing God’s people to be destroyed. The little book of Obadiah has only one chapter, but it takes on a really big topic. Let’s begin by getting the story straight.
Back in Genesis 25, twins were born to Isaac and Rebekah. Their names were Jacob and Esau and if you know the story, you know that they struggled against each other from the day of their birth. When they were grown, even though Esau was older, Jacob got the inheritance from his father Isaac, and the blessing, with the help of his mother’s scheming. Needless to say that did not improve relationships between the two brothers. The feelings of hatred and hostility from that event stayed with them not only through their lives, but through the lives of their descendants. Those descendants eventually ended up in a little country called Edom 15 miles wide and 70 miles long. And we read about the hostility between those two nations throughout the OT.
• In I Samuel 14, Edom is listed as one of the enemies Saul fought against when he became king.
• In II Samuel 8, David subdued Edom when he became king.
• In II Kings 8 we read that Edom revolted against Israel.
And prophet after prophet spoke against Edom.
• Isaiah said that Edom was doomed to judgment in chapter 34.
• Jeremiah said God would bring calamity on Edom in chapter 49.
• Ezekiel said that God would lay their towns to ruin in chapter 35
• Malachi predicted their destruction.
• Lamentations 4 says God will punish Edom’s sin.
What did this country of Edom do to deserve all these words of judgment? The prophet Obadiah spells it out.
If you remember your history of the Old Testament, you know that because the Israelites sinned, God allowed the Babylonians to come in and take them captive. The Babylonians killed some. They took some of them prisoners and carted them off to Babylonia. And then they totally destroyed Jerusalem, their religious center.
So we ask what that had to do with Edom. Why should Edom be punished? Here is why: During the time of that attack, Edom stood by while their relatives in Jerusalem were destroyed. Remember: there are no innocent bystanders.
Look at what Obadiah has to say about Edom:
v. 10. They have acted with violence toward their brother.
v. 11. They stood aside and did nothing. They didn’t lift a finger.
v. 12. They gloated and rejoiced over their misfortune.
v. 13. They even looted their goods.
v. 14. They not only offered no help, they even turned people over to the Babylonians. What kind of brotherly concern is that?
v. 15 says, “As you have done, it shall be done to you.” God’s punishment will fit the crime.
The Church. We need to ask what message God might have through this short book for the church today. What lessons can we learn from Obadiah? Here are two.
First, as we have already seen, there are no innocent bystanders. From what we know, the people in Edom did not set out to destroy their neighbors, just as the neighbors of Kitty Genovese did not intend for her to die. According to the prophet Obadiah, the Edomites began as bystanders. They stood and watched as Babylonian soldiers entered Jerusalem. The Edomites may have been kind of glad to see it happen. Maybe they even said, “They deserved it.” And by the time it was over, the Edomites themselves joined in the looting and even turned the refugees over to those foreign troops. Obadiah says this was wrong. They should have stood with their neighbor instead of standing by. When a neighbor suffers under an oppressor, the place of God’s people is on the side of the neighbor.
Taking it a little further, remember what Jesus said in Matt 25? He said there will be a final accounting of those who failed to stand with the hungry and thirsty, the sick and the naked. I don’t think the church has been guilty of robbing and oppressing people. But we need to ask how often we have stood by while bad things happened, choosing not to get involved. There are lots of issues around the world we could talk about, but let’s take a couple close to home.
First Lesson: there are no innocent bystanders.
Immigration. Right now in the United States, immigration has become a hot-button issue and I realize it is a complex topic. But what is God’s message for the church? Should the church just stand by and not lift a finger to help people who in some cases are being treated like criminals when the only thing they are guilty of is seeking economic opportunity just as some of our own ancestors did a couple of centuries ago? If we just stand by, how easy will it be to become smug about their deportation and to say they deserved it? Or how easy will it be to turn them in to authorities? Remember, when it comes to issues of justice, there are no innocent bystanders.
What would be the God-like thing to do?
1. Look for opportunities to befriend Hispanics. You may have some living in your neighborhood. We do. When Kyle was here we took him with us so we could speak with them.
2. Learn and use your Spanish.
3. Stick up for them whenever you can. Your concern might change someone else’s opinion.
Love Fund. The other topic I want to mention is our own church Love Fund. Last week one day, Sue and I met with a minister at Southside Christian church. That congregation has a wonderful prayer ministry and sometimes people call them and ask, “Are you the church that prays for people?” We told her that we sometimes get calls that ask, “Are you the church that helps people?”
Most of you know that we have a special fund administered by the deacons to help people in financial emergencies. Some of you contribute to that fund regularly. . Some of you have received help from that fund. This way of helping people in crisis has been a part of the ministry of this church for a long time. It fits our fifth purpose: to demonstrate God’s love through ministry beyond our church family. The deacons struggle with how to provide the best help in these situations. On the one hand, with the money we have we can’t make a big difference. On the other hand, when we see people in serious crisis situations, we can’t stand idly by. I know there may be people who say, “Well, they got themselves into this situation. They can find a way out.” As we often hear, it is easy to blame the victim. But, we believe that Jesus commands us to stand with those who are hungry and needy. And as a congregation we need to ask ourselves, is there more we could do to alleviate need around us? We know there are risks. Sometimes people have tried to pull the wool over our eyes. But the bigger risk is not doing enough and having to answer to Jesus on Judgment Day. Remember, there are no innocent bystanders.
What is the God-like thing to do?
1. First, as long as we have money in the Love Fund, the deacons will do their part. We obviously don’t want to make beggars out of people, so the deacons will depend on God’s leading to make these decisions. And if God leads you to put an extra gift in that fund, do it.
2. I hope the Love Fund we have in this church is not limited to money. Every new person who shows up here is someone worthy of God’s grace. I hope you take the time to talk with people you don’t know. I know of one church that has adopted the 3-minute rule. Take the first three minutes after church to talk to new people, then talk with friends.
3. If you know of someone who is really struggling with something, offer to pray for them. Give them a phone call. Send them a card. Your concern could have a bigger impact than you could ever imagine.
That is the first lesson from Obadiah.
Second lesson: God is in control. Obadiah wrote to people whose lives had been uprooted and who had seen unbelievable sadness. Ps. 137 describes their grief at being in a foreign land. Where was God in this difficult time?
Eventually, some of these people were able to return from exile only to see their crumbled homes and to realize their hopes were shattered. Their lives were in shambles. They had lost everything. But by God’s grace they had survived. What was the message for them? Verse 18 reminds them that evil will be punished. The people of God will remain alive, but those who stood idly by, who contributed to their destruction will themselves be destroyed. The final chapter has not yet been written. God is on top of things.
You may be one whose life is beaten and battered, broken and shattered, but that is not the end. Obadiah ends with these words, “And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” And those words echo not only through the Old Testament, but through the New Testament as well when a new prophet came on the scene and said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And that gives us hope.
This is, after all, our father’s world. Even though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
So, when you wake up each morning, offer a prayer of praise that God still rules. Open his word and find encouragement that he has not deserted you. And give thanks that there is room for you in God’s kingdom. As we read in Obadiah, “The kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”
(Commentary resource: INTERPRETATION Hosea-Micah by James Limburg, John Knox Press.
