A Time to Weep; A Time to Witness
A news reporter navigates through the wreckage of a Cub Foods grocery store: the entire floor was flooded with water, covered with broken glass, and completely plastered with store products that had been ripped and riffled from their shelves. Outside, you can hear gunshots and shouting. Firetrucks speed down the street towards an AutoZone engulfed in flames. Black smoke fills the skies and tear gas fills the streets. You’d think you were in a war zone: but no, you’re walking the streets of Minneapolis.
On Tuesday, May 26, protesters mobilized and rallied by the hundreds outside Minneapolis’ Third Precinct Police Station, demanding justice for George Floyd, and that the four police officers involved with Floyd’s death be arrested and put immediately on trial. Many protesters tried their best to patiently keep the peace, but others resorted to more violent tactics: they vandalized; they threw rocks at squad cars; they defaced and looted local stores; they even set some businesses on fire. Things escalated even more once protesters stormed the gate surrounding the Third Precinct and tried to breach the front doors. Police in riot gear emerge and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. Rioters throw stones at police officers, who in turn respond with rubber bullets and more teargas. But by Friday, the police had abandoned the precinct and rioters successfully broke in and set it ablaze. By Friday, over 170 Minneapolis businesses had either been looted or damaged; dozens more were burned. Rioters assured reporters that, as long as there is no justice, the violent riots would continue. You can hear them chanting everywhere: “No justice; no peace.”
It all started with the arrest and death of George Floyd in police custody the day before. Video of Floyd’s detainment and abuse at the hands of MPD was recorded on a smartphone by a witness – a video that went immediately viral. The video is horrific.
But this video of a white police officer kneeling on a black man’s neck while he pleas for his life was perceived not just as someone dying due to police negligence or abuse of power; no, this event struck a nerve that runs deep throughout the cultural fabric of America: the death of George Floyd was perceived as yet another example of racial inequality and oppression – someone black suffering at the hands of someone white.
The issue of racism has gruesome chapters written in both America’s past and present; prejudicial discrimination and antagonism based on race is a cancer of global proportion. And we rightly want justice to run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. But the reconciliation we all hunger for – that absolute reconciliation we all need - is one far greater than even restoring race relations in our broken country. And that message of global reconciliation and sins forgiven is one the world needs to hear now more than ever.
And that was the message proclaimed at Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21.
The “Feast of Weeks” or Pentecost was celebrated annually in Jerusalem, on the fiftieth day after the beginning of the Passover. It had been ten days since Jesus had ascended into heaven – ten days since Jesus had promised that they would be powerfully equipped by the Holy Spirit to go and be witnesses – to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world. And now, at the festival of Pentecost, Jesus would keep that promise: God the Holy Spirit would sweep through that upper room, manifest as “tongues of fire” resting on each of the disciples, and he would enable them all to speak “the wonders of God” in the various languages – the very languages spoken by the diverse makeup of worshipers who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival.
Did you catch that? This was not an arbitrary, thoughtless endowment of the Holy Spirit’s equipping. God-fearing Jews from all regions within the Mediterranean world had now gathered to one singular location. And now, the Holy Spirit specifically equips these twelve disciples for the very task they were called by God to carry out: to bring the good news of redemption and eternal life through our Savior Jesus to all nations of the world: the gospel is the message our divided world needs to hear.
Be it George Floyd’s death in May, or the shooting of Jacob Blake this past week, such events and their aftermath reveal a dangerous fixation on what divides us – and an ignorance to that which unites us. Such events showcased a dysfunction in how we societally define one another – including ourselves. Such events demonstrated the deadliness in diagnosing the ills of others, and failure to also diagnose ourselves.
When we, as a people, exclusively – even primarily define our core identity or the identities of others by gender, age, or race – we invariably begin to play a game of “us vs. them”. We think that we, by virtue of our gender, age, or race, aren’t inherently part of the problem.
There was an Indian restaurant not far from the Third Precinct Police Station that had put up a sign in front of their restaurant that said “Minority Owned.” I’m sure you can imagine why they did: they were hoping that, by designating their restaurant as “Minority owned” that somehow they’d be spared from the rioting and looting. Be it their intention or not, it’s a sign that communicates “We, by virtue of our race, are not part of the problem.” There’s massive irony here. It’s ironic because the windows of that same “Minority-owned” Indian restaurant were still smashed and that building was still set on fire. It’s ironic because that same store owner said, as he watched the riots in the news, changes his tune and says “Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served.”
But it’s even more ironic than that: this business owner was citing his status as a ‘minority’ to protect him from city-wide injustice that is being done in the name of injustice done towards a minority. Turns out, citing your skin color to exempt you from injustice is ironically just as racist as inciting injustice against someone because of their skin color.
This is the inherent danger of viewing people through the lens of race and ethnicity: it is actually dehumanizing. We fail to see the people of this world for who they really are – including ourselves. When I build my core identity on talking points of gender, age, or race, I’ve failed to capture who I really am. So it’s no wonder why so many fail to see how they possibly could be part of the problem.
“But we’re not part of the problem!” the mob shouts. “White police officers like Derek Chauvin are part of the problem.” Millions took to Facebook to preside as both judge and jury, arguing whether or not Derek Chauvin should be charged with 3rd Degree Murder and manslaughter. Some argue that sentencing isn’t enough – that the evidence calls for a harsher charge – that racial intent can be determined; some caution that intent isn’t apparent from the evidence gathered. Still others argue they’d rather have Chauvin do time for a lesser sentence than be charged with 1st or 2nd Degree murder, be found “not guilty” and then walk free. And still others insist that they will not rest until true justice is done – even if that means more destruction, rioting and looting in the streets.
And yet, it should be apparent to anyone that we – you and I – are part of the problem: broken police officers who abuse their power, broken judicial systems that fail to provide true justice, broken people who justify their hatred – even to the point of destroying people’s lives.
It sickens me how deep-seated the issue of racism is in our country. It sickens me how often I hear undeniable stories of being pulled over for “DWB”: “Driving while Black.” It sickens me when the headlines read “Black man shot seven times by police officer” and someone’s first instinctual response is “Well, did the guy have a criminal record?” There is something seriously wrong when we focus only on the manner of protests and forget the racism people are protesting. There is something seriously wrong when we justify destroying someone’s livelihood to make a point. Such violent, destructive actions are just as dehumanizing as racism: you’ve objectified someone’s life for your own gain.
I weep for the black youth of our country who now have yet another reason to feel the system is stacked against them. I weep that another name is added to a long list of names. I hurt for police officers of integrity who are either embarrassed or afraid to wear the badge. I hurt for business owners whose lives and livelihood were destroyed in just hours – the hundreds of employees who lost their jobs and incomes. I hurt for burned and looted communities everywhere, as new businesses will likely think twice before going there to set up shop.
It equally sickens me – as it should you – that we appeal to racial injustice to warrant and justify the injustice we then inflict on others – that we appeal to the horrible treatment of a man to justify treating our fellow man horribly.
But if we’re gonna talk about core problems – not symptoms of the problem – then let’s get real and talk about the core problem: and it’s not racism.
That’s right. Racism isn’t the core disease of our country. Make no mistake, there is a disease that ravages our nation – but it isn’t racism: no, racism, like rioting, police brutality, and broken judicial systems, is just a symptom of a fatal, widespread, globally-infected disease – a disease you and I both were born with: sin.
Believe it or not, in the courtroom of God, George Floyd and Derek Chauvin stood equally convicted by God’s Law.
I’m going to let that sink in a minute – because chances are, that strikes you as offensive – that George Floyd and Derek Chauvin stood equally sinful, equally guilty of innumerable sins before a holy, righteous God.
And not just Floyd and Chauvin – but you too.
And we can appeal all we want to our race, but we aren’t exempt from the issue. We can appeal to our cultural or ethnic background, but that’s not enough. We can appeal to how “woke” we are and cite every protest we’ve been part of – how much an ally we are to societal reform – but in the courtrooms of God, these are but pennies towards the infinite debt of sin.
You and I are not exempt from the problem – we are part of the problem.
God himself tells every person in this world that surely, we were sinful already at birth – sinful from the time we were conceived. You and I – because of who we are, are only entitled to God’s wrath and punishment. If I, as I’m tallying up all that’s wrong with the world, fail to see me as a part of this world’s ugly dysfunction, I haven’t looked into the mirror of God’s Law long enough: the hatred we justify in our heart; our coldness to those who are in need; our failure to listen, and impatience with others; our unwillingness to understand; when we distance ourselves from those not like us; the looting, the rioting – all of it is sin; the ethnic slurs, our racist comments – all of it is sin; when we tear lives down with our words, our actions, with stones or with fire – it’s all sin in God’s eyes. Jesus says if you hate someone in your heart your guilty of murder in the eyes of God. You can argue with me why that is all you want. But your justification will not hold up in the courts of heaven. There is no “us and them” when it comes to God’s Law. “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” and “The wages of sin is death.”
Suddenly, our demands for absolute justice are silenced – because God’s law demands something I can’t give him; because God’s Law demands that sin be punished – and I am sinful in thought, word, and deed. We needed a mediator to intervene – to stand in our place and save us.
And that’s exactly what the Son of God did – not just for you and me – but for this entire, dysfunctional, broken world! Certainly, Jesus’ physical suffering and death – the whipping, the beating, and the crucifixion, was all part of drinking the cup the Father had given the Son, for “without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness.” Yet, the suffering and death of the God-Man entailed far more than bloodshed. Christ bore the weight of every single sin. The brokenness, sin, suffering, and evil of billions and billions of people was thrown on Calvary’s altar: the hanging trees of America, the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, the famine of the Great Leap Forward, the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The totality of sufferings and evils past, present, and future converged onto the Crucified God. The skeletons of every closet, the wounds of every sin, the weight of all grief and shame was carried by Jesus on that cross.
Certainly, Christ’s suffering struck at the very depths of his soul. He was scorned, ridiculed, rejected, and abandoned; yet, none of that compared to his hell he experienced not only by becoming sin, but being rejected by his own Father.
Think about it: the severity of pain we experience when relationships end corresponds with the length of that relationship. A break-up of two months hurts, a break-up of two years is crushing, and a divorce after two decades “unmakes a man.” But such pain is trivial compared to the infinite pain experienced in time by Christ on Calvary, as his Father in heaven rejects him.
You want to talk about “No justice; no peace?” Well, the justice that should rightfully have fallen on us fell on Jesus – so you would have peace! Peace with God forever! Jesus endured the wrath of God for us!
Did the Father take pleasure in the punishing of his Son? Certainly not; God takes no delight in the death of the wicked—even if that wickedness be the convergence of every single sin in the world on his only Son.
Nevertheless, a God who loves what is good inversely hates what is evil, and unrelentingly punished the sins of the entire world in sinful man (Romans 8:3). Did the Father love his Son as his Son suffered on the cross? Most certainly, but his love for his only-begotten Son did not stop the Father from punishing him—because of his unrelenting love for you. “The reason the Father loves me,” Jesus said, “is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.” Christ laid down his life for you – for the world! Loving a broken, sinful world meant God would suffer and die to save it! That’s the message you and the world needs to hear.
And that was the message powerfully proclaimed at Pentecost. That same day, 3,000 from that diverse audience were brought to faith. And they, in turn, carried the message of Jesus to their hometowns – and shared it in their own language. Think about that! Think about all the racial and cultural diversity congregating in Jerusalem that day: Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome; Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9-11).
Also, take into consideration that Greek was most certainly known by all traveling to Jerusalem – it was the lingua franca, the trade language of the Greco-Roman world. And yet, God the Holy Spirit empowers these disciples for a time to speak in the native tongue of those travelers coming to Jerusalem. When it would appear language or culture would divide 12 Jewish men from the diverse crowds gathered in Jerusalem, God the Holy Spirit makes a way. That’s the message of the gospel and the power of the gospel!
You see, the very fact Christ not only calls the disciples to go into all the world and preach the good news of salvation, but then also, through the sending of the Holy Spirit, equips and empowers them to do just that tangibly demonstrates several things:
Jesus had not abandoned his church,
Our God equips those he calls to be his witnesses by sharing the gospel,
and the gospel message we have been called to proclaim is a message for the entire world - and the entire world needs to hear it.
The fact that the disciples were proclaiming “the wonders of God” in the heart-language of all who traveled to Jerusalem is tangible demonstration not only of God’s power but God’s love for all people – tangible demonstration that the message of reconciliation to God through Christ and deliverance from sin and death is for all people and all nations! The multitudes who traveled from all over the Mediterranean world heard Peter profess that “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” (Acts 2:32). But not only that - that Jesus’ death and resurrection means the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God has been won for the world.
Because of Jesus, there is no separation - no line in the sand - that once divided us from God. Through Jesus, we are brought close to God, no longer estranged by our mistakes and bad choices, but made members of God’s family. People from every tribe, language, and nation are made family through the God and Savior who first made us family with him. In other words, just as we all share a desperate need for a Savior, we all find a common identity in Jesus - the Savior of the world from sin and death. Through faith in Christ, we’re not only restored to God and made family with God, but made family with one another. In Christ, there is no more “white” or “black” “Asian” or “Hispanic”. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
We live in an increasingly polarized country. We are drowning in a sea of information streaming from sources more committed to pushing a particular narrative than actually pursuing the truth. The ‘truth’ value of an idea is now weighed by how trendy that idea is. Tight-knit communities dissolve into clans. Civil conversations become scarce. Attempts at dialogue devolve into personal attacks. Finding common ground seems improbable, and reconciling the divide seems impossible. We claim to be more ‘connected’ than ever before; fact is, studies show the complete opposite: we’re more lonely than ever before.
When there are a million-and-one things that divide people, is there something that breaks down barriers and unites people together? In a world of competing ‘identities’, is there somewhere that everyone - regardless of age, race, or gender - finds a common identity? In the white noise of competing ideas that proliferate never-ending to-do lists on how to ‘be spiritual’ and get right with God, is there someplace we can find absolute assurance of who our God is and our relationship with God? When the relationships in our lives crash and burn and our friends leave us high and dry, is there someone who is there for us? Who loves us unconditionally? Who is always faithful? Always reliable? Someone working for our eternal good? There is someone who is the answer to all of these questions.
That someone is Jesus. And in him, and him alone, there is forgiveness and life for the world. That is the message this world needs to hear. Right now.
Weep for our country. Weep for those men and women of law enforcement who wear the badge with integrity and bravery and now wear it with shame. Weep for a world that has tuned out the call of their God – who have ignored the pleading voice of their Savior – a world drowning in the white noise of hateful rhetoric. Weep for those who don’t know Jesus. Weep for those who neither know who he is but don’t know what he has done for them. Weep for a world that plunged into darkness when she rejected God and his goodness in the Garden of Eden. May the bones of our heart be crushed and broken by the Holy Spirit working through God’s Law. And may that same Holy Spirit work joy and confidence in our hearts in the gospel-assurance of sins forgiven forever in Jesus - who lived, died, rose, and now reigns forever.
Yes, weep for the sins of this world. But may lament and mourning not be all we do. Yes, we as a church are to weep. But, more importantly, we are called to witness.
Don’t just care about the “issues” – care about true reconciliation – and true reconciliation cannot happen absent the gospel – the good news of Jesus for you! May our reconciliation flow from the reconciliation that Christ won for us on the cross. That means we take Christ’s words seriously: love your enemies. If I can’t love my enemies, how can I pursue them with the gospel – the only message that truly changes hearts and lives forever?
May God the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, work in our hearts a righteous anger that burns for justice and against racism. May that same Holy Spirit give us just as much zeal that burns for pursuing all people with the message of Jesus.
Amen.