I recently rewatched the 1997 movie version of the Titanic.  Regardless of the fact that it is historical fact that the Titanic will sink and the reality that I have already watched the movie countless times, I still find myself pulling for the characters—yearning for a different outcome. I want the captain to make different decisions, that lead to the ship staying afloat.  Or at the very least, for the passengers and crew to evacuate more efficiently so that a smaller number of lives are lost.  But no matter how many times I watch that movie, it always ends the same way—with Jack Dawson, and about 1500 other people, freezing to death in the icy water.

How did things go so terribly wrong?

To be honest, things weren’t ever really going all that well on Titanic.  I guess you could argue that conditions were good for 1st Class passengers, at least on the surface.  They enjoy luxurious accommodations, with servants to wait on them hand and foot throughout the voyage.  Yet, in the character of Rose, we learn the terrible truth that wealth and privilege come at a steep cost.  Rose’s stifled life is a far cry from the freedom and joy that she witnesses below decks among the 3rd Class passengers.  Yet, these passengers are struggling in others ways, being treated as almost sub-human because of their poverty.  The socioeconomic divide is vividly portrayed in one scene where dogs belonging to 1st Class passengers are walked directly past the lines where 3rd Class passengers await their health inspections.

Things were already horribly wrong on Titanic, long before she ever hit that iceberg.  As Titanic sinks, it is social class that largely determines each person’s likelihood of survival.  While Rose’s snobbish mother inquires whether or not the lifeboats will be seated according to class, 3rd Class passengers are being held back by locked gates, prevented from even reaching the decks.  They are told that they will have their turn once all of the 1st Class passengers have boarded the lifeboats.  But for many, that turn will never come.

Sadly, this is not an entirely new story.  It is merely one version of a story that has been repeated throughout all of human history.  Written through many lives, in many different times and places.  One of which is recorded in the book of the prophet, Micah.