The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence. Psalm 11:5
It is entirely
understandable that a community backlash would/should follow such an horrific end
to a man’s life. Moral legal action is
demanded to sort out not only what happened, but to seek justice when a law
enforcement official (with 3 backup officers on the scene) chooses to exert force,
apparently sufficient to kill, particularly when the apprehended man is secured
and begging for mercy. Society that quietly
looks the other way from such brutality is hideously inhumane.
From a personal
viewpoint, I cannot get my mind to move past the thought that, for George Floyd
and Derek Chauvin, this was a family matter; they were brothers. That statement
alone is liable to get me a dozen or more are you crazy responses, so let me explain.
Scripture tells us we come from a common ancestor, named Eve. Even for the less Biblically-based among us,
current science proclaims her name was Lucy, or L.U.C.A., (Last Universal Common Ancestor).[1] That ultimately
means George Floyd and Derek Chauvin are of the same family, which makes them
both part of the same race, human! This was
a family matter…even if neither of them knew it!
It’s important to note
that the very first murder recorded in Scripture is perpetrated by the first
human to be born on earth (God had put Cain’s parents together by hand; they
never saw the inside of a neo-natal unit).
Cain and Abel were instructed what kind of offering to bring to give
thanks to God for their lives. Abel
listened and was obedient, Cain didn’t and wasn’t[2]. When God called
him on his poor choice, Cain got ticked, and since he knew he couldn’t wrestle
with God and come out on top, he took his anger out on his brother with a rock
to the head. And brothers have been
using rocks, clubs, guns, spears, swords and smart bombs to carry on the family
tradition ever since! That is bad
enough; but, enter the rioters and looters.
In a kind of Cain profile some are just drawn by the lure of the mob. Somehow it is a safe place to take revenge
for injustice. And people do love a safe
place from which to proclaim (self) righteously their anger. And, if being anonymous in a mob, you can get
away with smashing a store window, you might as well take that 72” smart TV home
too. We have a word to describe that…cowardice!
In the end we all play
Cain’s card – it’s somebody else’s fault. After all, Cain
learned it best from his and his brother’s parents. When they sinned, God demanded an accounting;
here’s how that played out:
Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Genesis 3:9-13
Deflect, blame someone
else, hide, don’t show your face. It’s
the blame game. Only, in the
case of George Floyd, it wasn’t much of a game.
Let’s Pray Together:
Father, our hearts and souls are pierced once again at the madness of violence we have in our land. There seems to be no end of anger and fingers pointing at each other; we play the blame game with amazing and continually increasing disastrous effects. And then we go to church on Sunday to worship the goodness of the Prince of Peace. You cannot be pleased with your children and our unfaithful, brutal ways. May our hearts be pierced with your love; may it extend to our brothers.
For You Today
Brutality & revenge; when have two wrongs EVER made right?
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