Tuesday; March 31
On this date in history
Spain decreed that it was expelling all Jews from their county. The Alhambra Decree appears to have come about
after decades of acts of violence and antisemitism – in other words formalizing
a mindset that was already in vogue.
Jews were given until the end of July to leave the country which not
only resulted in personal problems, but economic pressures as well. Now, the reason I bring this up is to
highlight the date – this wasn’t last month, a few years ago or even in the 1940s
under a Fascist Regime – it was in 1492.
The same year Columbus set off to investigate a new world, the Jews were
sent on their own kind of pilgrimage.
There is a lot of talk
these days about how bad these times are.
We lament prejudice, hatred and mistreatment of one group by another. However, this is not something new; nor is even
unique to this generation. It is not exclusive
to one segment of the population. It has
been happening almost since the beginning of mankind and it will most likely
continue until the Lord comes again!
Please don’t misunderstand my point, I am not defending this type of
attitude; rather I am saying that bigotry is not a political problem, it is a
people problem. This is not something we
can legislate ourselves out of, it is something we must love ourselves out
of! The key is not better laws, it can
only happen when we are willing to fulfill the Royal Law. An early Christian writer observed, “If,
however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well.” (James
2:8). If we are going to change society,
we must stop pointing our fingers at each other and open our hearts to one
another.
Think About It!