I think we can all admit that 2020 has been a strange year, and it’s not even half over. A global pandemic has dominated our attention and taken over our lives. And by nature, a lot of other issues have taken a backseat. We’ve kind of acted like the world has been on pause while we sort this out … but the truth is that it hasn’t. And we’ve been reminded of that this past week.
The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis should be seen as a tragedy for all Americans, especially Christians, not because he was such an incredible human being, but because as those who uphold human life, the loss of it, especially in such a brutal and vulgar way, should shake us. It should also be seen as yet another instance of what some have called “America’s original sin”, the reality that racism is a real ongoing problem in our society. In the wake of that, we have seen widespread protests, and even rioting and looting as a significant portion of our people lash out in anger and frustration at a system and society that has failed them. The most dramatic pictures have come from Minneapolis, where entire buildings have been utterly destroyed.
So what should we as Christians think/speak/do with all this? It’s easy to join in with the rest of the world and take our juror seats in the court of public opinion. And when we can see clear instances of rampant sin, it’s even easier to sit back and shake our heads, condemning the actions of others. But that’s how the world thinks, Christian or not, and we are called to approach sin differently.
The book of Romans is a great example of this. The first chapter has become a go-to place for many to find words of law and judgment upon a rebellious, corrupt people. I have seen so many seek out isolated verses in that first chapter in order to share a clear word about God’s will for the world and the sinful state in which we find it. That’s called “prooftexting,” identifying clear-cut verses that seem to prove our point or establish church doctrine … and it’s a dangerous practice because it teaches us to use small portions of Scripture to make a point that isn’t necessarily what the overall message of the broader text wants us to see.
Which is why so many read Romans 1 … without including Romans 2. Romans 1 really sets up this haughty mindset of looking at a broken world and seeing how sinful and wicked it is, how hopefully lost it is … and therefore how great it is to be part of the group that isn’t that way. Romans 2 … knocks that mindset down. “Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”
Ouch.
Here’s the overall message, in the words of Dr. Leo Sanchez, a systematics professor at our seminary in St. Louis …
“Public displays of racism offer an opportunity for repentance. Not merely calling for someone else to repent, but for my own repentance. Which is actually more difficult than condemning racism in general because it makes racism my personal problem.”
Leopoldo Sanchez, “Racism, Dealing with It”, August 14, 2017
It’s easy to condemn the police for racist practices and policies, for failing in their vocations as protectors of the public and upholders of the natural law. But we mustn’t neglect how we fail in fulfilling our vocations to love our neighbor and support their well-being over and against our own.
It’s easy to condemn looters and rioters for promoting rampant destruction, for theft, and for blatant disrespect toward temporal authority, for failing to consider their neighbors in their anger and frustration. But we cannot ignore how we have personally contributed to a system and society that consistently sees those who are not like ourselves as “lesser than”, how we have stood in willful ignorance and even mockery at the cries of the oppressed.
It’s easy, especially for those of us separated from the violence by distance, wealth, social status, or even skin color, to shake our heads at others without repenting ourselves.
God’s Word gives a mandate to the church to judge behavior as He does, to see as wicked what God calls wicked and righteous what God calls righteous. The church exists to call all to repentance and faith. But we cannot forget the many warnings to be careful to always include and consider ourselves first. Whether it’s the pharisee who judges the tax collector, the fool who ignores the log in his eye, or simply those who take advantage of God’s kindness and patience and forget that our stance in this world is always to be one of repentance, first and foremost, knowing that when the Bible says, “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” the one person included in “ALL” that we are best positioned to criticize is ourselves.
Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the heroes and champions of peaceful, nonviolent resistance, had some things to say about rioting and looting.
“Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating . . . So I will continue to condemn riots, and continue to say to my brothers and sisters that this is not the way. And continue to affirm that there is another way.
“But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots . . . riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”
(Martin Luther King, Jr. The Other America, 1967)
When a child needs attention and parents continue to deny it, what do they do? They act out. They misbehave, either out of a confused idea that negative behavior will get them what they want, or out of frustration at being ignored. This is NOT a justification for the behavior. Screaming at your parents or punching your little brother are still wrong, still sinful, no matter how much you have been ignored. But it IS an explanation for the behavior, and one that I think we all can understand.
Rioting, looting, destroying the property of others, stealing and violence … these are all sinful acts. That those doing them feel driven to those actions by the inaction of another does not justify them. But it should explain them.
But rather than rush to condemn those actions, to simply speak out against them, God would have us stop and look in the mirror.
Black athletes took a knee in silent protest, and we called them disrespectful.
People stood in solidarity time after time as innocent blacks were killed by police officers, protesting peacefully in an attempt to get us to agree that Black Lives Matter enough to warrant justice and equality under the law, and we scoffed with comebacks like “all lives matter.”
Entire populations of our fellow American citizens and human beings face ongoing prejudice, bias, and mistreatment unfairly simply because of the color of their skin, and we sat comfortably in peace either because we failed to see our part in that or because we felt they were overreacting.
Now another black man is dead because he allegedly attempted to pay for lunch with a counterfeit $20 bill … and a city has exploded in anger and violence. None of it is justifiable. But I think we’d be foolish to say that it’s surprising.
In the wake of this year’s celebration of Pentecost, I’ll leave you with Dr. Sanchez once again …
“How then do we respond to racism, whether crass or subtle, not only in public but at all times? By looking in the mirror with the eyes of repentance, at our spiritual lives with the eyes of vigilance, outside of ourselves with the eyes of a servant, toward excluded neighbors with the eyes of welcome, and toward the Giver of all gifts with the eyes of devotion. This picture of life is, of course, quite a burden for any person to fulfill on his or her own. Inevitably, we will come up short when dealing with racist and ethnocentric impulses.
“Yet Christ’s grace is abundant and he gives us his Spirit to provide what is needed along the journey. If lack of repentance, the Spirit will kill the sinner in us to make us alive. If lack of vigilance amidst the seductions of evil, the Spirit will make us watchful and accountable to one another in our thoughts, speech, and deeds. If lack of service and hospitality, the Spirit will warm up our cold hearts toward the strange other and bear his fruit in our lives, leading us to engage in sacrificial and welcoming acts on behalf of marginalized neighbors. If lack of devotion, the Spirit will give us rest in God to stand back and behold the colorful beauty of his creation in the face of our neighbors. So come, Holy Spirit! We need you!”
Leopoldo Sanchez, “Racism, Dealing with It”, August 14, 2017
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Here’s a link to Dr. Sanchez’s complete article on how Christians deal with racism in our lives.