A Day In Pompeii

I took the boys to see “A Day In Pompeii,” a great new exhibit at the Museum of Science.  Gladiator masks, great videos, an audio tour for kids, and casts of dead people suffocating to death. What could be better for seven- and eight-year-old boys, yes?

As I marveled at the frescos, though, the boys looked bored. I tried to give them a sense of history and awe with, “But guys, these paintings were probably around when Jesus was on the planet.  Remember, Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., and Jesus died around 33 A.D., so it was only forty-six years later.  And remember that the Roman empire was in charge when Jesus was alive.  So these artifacts show us a bit of the culture of the Roman empire at the time they were occupying Jerusalem.”

“And Roman soldiers killed Jesus, right Momma?”

“Yup. And Roman soldiers also destroyed the temple in Jerusalem a few years before Vesuvius.”

I was trying to give a historical context here.  I really was. I was not trying to foment any anti-Roman sentiment.  Really.  I just wanted the boys to connect what they were seeing in the artifacts all around them to a story they already knew.  That, unfortunately, is not quite the connection Ezra made.  I know this because he announced at that top of his lungs, “Oh, Momma, can I tell you something?  I figured it out.  God blew up Pompeii to punish the Romans for killing Jesus and wrecking the temple.”

The Hindu woman standing next to us smiled sweetly and waited to hear my reply.

“Well, Ez,” I answered, “I can see why it looks that way to you, but it’s usually a bad idea to claim to know the mind of God, especially because the Bible says that things that look like punishment to us may not be a punishment at all.”

That answer seemed to satisfy the Hindu woman.  She nodded, smiled again, and walked on.  I don’t think Ezra was convinced, though.  He walked around the rest of the exhibit shaking his head and muttering under his breath, “They really shouldn’ta killed Jesus.”

Ah, yes.  Just another day in Pompeii.