June 08, 2020

It's a Commandment

Devotion for the Week...

I've had a hard time deciding what to write this week. On the one hand, I want to use this space to say unequivocally that Black lives matter and I can't understand how some people don't get that. On the other hand, I don't want to write anything that is just virtue signalling, ie, the practice of writing or speaking in support of something to show that you are a good person. In the end, speaking up feels important.

Black lives matter. It's pure and simple, really. When asked, "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40). Earlier, during the Sermon on the Mount, He said, "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you" (Matthew 7:12).

While we might each individually be treating the Black people we know just the same as we would want to be treated, there is no denying that the system does not treat them the way we would want to be treated. Jane Elliott is an anti-racism activist and there's a short video of her speaking to a group of white people and asking them to stand up if they would want to be treated the same way that Black people are treated.

Not one person stands up.

That alone speaks volumes, doesn't it? The truth of the matter is, I wouldn't have stood up. If you are a white person, would you have stood? If we can acknowledge that we wouldn't want to be treated the way the Black community is treated, we have to acknowledge that as a society we have failed to follow what Jesus calls one of the two most important commandments.
Black lives matter | DevotedQuilter.com
Background quilt is Intersections

The question becomes, what now? How will we act now that we have recognized this? Jesus tells us to do to others what we would like for them to do to us and to love our neighbours as ourselves. It's past time to start following those commandments.

1 comment:

  1. The video is shocking, but not surprising. I'd like to think we are in a time of change.

    ReplyDelete

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