Jesus was anti-racist, we should be too.

a note from earlier this week: 

 

“Today my heart is heavy. I’m confused, angered and frustrated. Frustrated about the ignorance of our society to the racial injustices all around us. Angered by the abundance of hurt and brokenness and how deep this corruption is entangled into our systemic governance. Confused that as such sinful, grotesque human beings we would even be given the ability to attempt and govern ourselves.”

 

….

 

This week we went deep into the issue of racial inequality, injustice and bias. An organization called One Race came to our campus and taught us about the dark history and present day presence of racial discrimination. 

 

I had to take some time before writing this blog because the realities of our world truly broke me and pushed me into anger and frustration. 

 

With that being said I want to preface by saying that this blog is not meant to use religion to support a personal political agenda. I will never pledge my allegiance with any person or party other then Jesus, therefore this comes out of a place of humility led by the heart of God. 

 

In August of 1619 in Jamestown, VA, Bacon’s Rebellion initiated the deep, socioeconomic hatred and discrimination of black people and slavery. From 1619 to 1865 slavery was the normality of American culture, but it didn’t end there. From 1865 to 1965 Jim Crow laws and an abundance of racial violence including lynching and segregation continued to systematically oppress black rights.

 

Until 1965 when the Civil Rights Movement was passed and racial equality was then possible (not necessarily achieved). From 1619 to 1965, intense racial enslavement and oppression was the norm, meaning 87% of American history is entangled in racial oppression, discrimination and violence. After almost 400 years of racial trauma, we cannot expect that it doesn’t have a long lasting affects in our present day lives, we have a lot of work to do. 

 

We live in a society that is build out of centuries of dark corruption and systemic racism. Similar to what the Jews and Gentiles (other people groups not of Jewish descent)  lived 2,000 years earlier in messianic Israel. 

 

I find it so confusing and frustrating when Christians are the ones actively taking part in the problem of ignorance and racism because Jesus was a unifier, a peace bringer, a barrier breaker. Jesus was countercultural. Jesus was a historian and a radical. 

 

The Church needs to do better. 

 

In John 4, Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman at the well. To give some historical context, Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee, Samaria was a town in between these places (implying that Jesus did not have to go through Samaria but chose to) where Gentiles lived. 

 

Gentiles were people of non Jewish descent that didn’t even worship a Jewish god, they were outcast and treated poorly, considered “half-breeds” by the Jews because of their ethnicity. 

 

As Jesus was a not only a Jew but also a male – speaking to the woman alone was a scandal. 

 

In John 4:13 Jesus says, “…indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. 

 

Now this may seem normal but the interesting factor is that Jesus just did something radical here. In Samaria, their religious text was called the Memar Marqah, and in this holy text it describes that salvation must come from living water. Jesus not only saw her as a person but knew and actually quoted her culture, her background, her ethnicity and religion.

 

If, as followers of Jesus, we are called to resemble Jesus in our every step, why are we not doing the same thing? 

 

Why are we not educated about our brothers and sisters? Why are we not activists? Why are we not actively pursuing racial reconciliation in every step we take? 

 

It breaks my heart. 

 

It breaks my heart that this is still an issue that has to be brought to attention, still something that we need to be fighting for. Still something that, for some reason, we still need to convince people of its existence. 

 

We cannot ignore the fact that we live in a culture where racism is possible, and the acts of racist driven violence are not anomalies. 

 

In Revelation 7:9 it reads, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” 

 

If this is our promise, our goal and our hope, and we take this as truth, what are we doing as a society, as the church, as individuals? 

 

If you made it this far, THANK YOU. And I want to conclude with the encouragement that we have the ability to be the change, through Jesus. 

 

We can be the change by humbling and educating ourselves.

 

By culturing ourselves with authentic relationships with people that are different than us. 

 

By actively working towards justice. If you are a minority (because it is not JUST the black community experiencing oppression) sharing your stories and holding people accountable. If you are the majority, by leveraging your privilege and humbling yourself. 

 

It is incredibly easy to get frustrated and angry with realities of this issue but I challenge everybody to come to this with a posture of humility and understanding. Just as Jesus did. 

 

As human beings we have a great power to corrupt and oppress but we also have an incredible power to love and support and understand and fight for justice and righteousness. 

 

God gifted us with the ability of freewill and he calls us to use it for him and for each other. That’s something to be grateful for and to fight for.