Friday, March 5: To Kill a Mockingbird

This year is the 50th anniversary of the publishing of Harper Lee’s book, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Set in Macomb, Alabama, and dealing with the topics of racial injustice and the loss of innocence, the book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960 while the author won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007. In the book and movie of the same name, Attorney Atticus Finch represents a black man, who has been accused of raping a white woman in the Southern town with severe class distinctions. After buying his son a gun, Finch instructs his son:


"I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."


In the book, why is it a sin to kill a mockingbird? Mockingbirds spend their lives peacefully singing the songs of others. “Others” includes birds, insects and other animals. I read of a woman who tired of hearing her Labrador retriever bark incessantly in the backyard. She sent the dog to training and saw wonderful results. One day she became completely disgruntled to hear the noise begin again, until she remembered that the dog was inside. Upon further inspection, she discovered the noise coming from a mockingbird. They mimic other animals, particularly birds, often in quick succession. I understand the desire to kill a mockingbird, as last spring, one took up residence right outside my window and gifted me with his song beginning at 3 in the morning every day! Unlike the mockingbird, God doesn’t mimic the song of others:


10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,
11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’
12 There they cry out, but He does not answer,
Because of the pride of evil men.
Job 35:10-12


Jesus told us that He is the Bread of life, and we also know from the opening of the Gospel of John that one of the titles of Jesus is the Word. In the Old Testament, God fed the Jews in the wilderness with manna, the honey wafer that fell from heaven new and fresh each day. Meaning “what is it,” manna is the name the Jews gave to God’s provision, as they tired of its sameness. Yet the sustenance was enough to keep them alive and well. In the same manner, God has given us His Word. If you read the Bible many times, the words remain the same, but the message can hit you right between the eyes depending on the place God has you in your life. The Bible reminds us in both the Old and New Testaments that we don’t live by just bread, but by the words that come from the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4). Those words are new and fresh each day. Satan tries to copy God in many ways, but God’s message is one that no one can mimic!