Of Verdicts, Injustice, and Love
First, some brief sentences to help the reader understand my perspective on how most stuff plays out in life…
In my moral outrage, I can point my finger.
In doing so, I offload the pain onto my scapegoated victim.
My neighbor sees this and deems it a)to be accurate, so they pile on as well b)to be inaccurate, so they turn and point their finger at me.
My neighbor imitates me by blaming others. Or imitates me by blaming me! Either way, it’s imitation.
No existence is entirely free from imitation.
Our only hope is to imitate those doing their best not to get caught up in rivalrous relationships.
Jesus, in my opinion, is at the top of the list of those people.
Second, RE: social media. It’s a trap. Lots of young people are struggling with this (older people too). For example, we might think a recent verdict sickens us. We really want to point fingers, but we realize a)that we’re less and less at peace when we blame, b) we don’t know which of our influence us has the right take, and c)we may not know the whole story.
My controversial take? It’s in three parts. Again, offered in brief sentences to help communicate my perspective.
I’m deeply suspicious of a young white man taking a rifle to a protest organized by and for non-white people. (For that matter, for young people taking a rifle pretty much anywhere. We are obsessed with guns.)
I’m sickened at the loss of life, both those who literally lost their lives, but also for this young man, who, even though he was acquitted, has in many ways “lost his life.” I pray his heart will be influenced for love in the aftermath.
Sigh, I just don’t know all the details.
And from a broader perspective, there’s no way I can know the details about how something plays out across the world, country, or even my town. This doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try, but I cannot try in every instance. I’m not trying to absolve myself of caring; I’m just trying to offer the idea that if one invests themselves in every soundbite, every “breaking news story,” every pronouncement or hot take, one’s soul will be damaged. Humans haven’t yet evolved to the point of being able to receive an up-to-the-second piece of news, evaluate it, and then offer a definitive opinion. What we often wind up doing in these moments, yes, circling back to how I started, is to imitate.
We watch what others post, say, and do, and then, influenced by what we think they will think of us, we make our move. All of us do this to some degree or another. None of us have original thoughts. (Most of all, myself.) All our thoughts are constructed upon and within the thoughts of others. My only encouragement to the young people (older people too, but honestly, most of them have too much to lose to listen to me) is not to feel rushed to make a judgment.
About your sexuality.
About your politics.
About your anger.
About your convictions.
About your ability to even make sound judgments.
Most of the time, you have time to respond, and despite what the patterns of the world/church want you to think, “Love is patient.”
We put too much pressure on ourselves to say the right things in the right moment in the right way. This obsession sheds light on Jesus saying, “do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it…” Love says more than hate. And love can be expressed in words, but it’s more fully expressed in actions. The best way to respond to injustice is to love. I don’t blame anyone for being angry, but the hope is that it doesn’t finish its work and turn us into a culture of angry scapegoating people. Anger can be a constructive partner but a terribly destructive master.
Grace and peace,
Jonathan
PS - I’m attempting to recognize that this is coming from my straight, white, male, American privilege. Undoubtedly that colors my opinion. Some will be in situations where they simply won’t have time to make up their mind. If that’s you, I pray you’ll do your best in the moment.
