I have had several times over the past few months I have had friends and even family jump all over me because of something I said. It was usually when I was doing my best to follow Jesus. So, I feel the need to explain where I am coming from.
When I say “Black
Lives Matter” it does NOT mean that I don’t believe all lives matter. When I call for justice for a person of color
who was murdered it does NOT mean that I don’t care or want justice for a white
child who was murdered. When I ask for
justice for someone who died in police custody it does NOT mean that I am anti-police
or that I don’t believe that Blue Lives Matter.
What it
means is that I am standing in solidarity with a brother or sister that is
suffering. In the biography of Mister
Rogers that I have been reading (Exactly as You Are by Shea Tuttle) they
talk about how his whole life, including being bullied helped make him the man
that he was. So, I want to share
something from my past that will help you understand why standing with someone
who is suffering is so important to me.
In a couple
of previous blogs I have talked about how I was bullied growing up. There was an incident when I was a Freshman
in High School that was very formative for me.
There was a senior who was a star football player who had decided that
shy, quiet, self-conscious me was going to be the lunch time target of his
bullying. Every day he did his best to
be mean, cruel, and often sexually inappropriate. His goal seemed to be to make me cry.
One day he
played a particularly nasty joke on me and the whole cafeteria around be seemed
to burst out laughing. At my table, one
friend turned away trying not to be associated with me. But what really hurt, was that my best friend
stood up beside my tormentor, slapped him on the arm and laughed with him. I had never felt so betrayed in my life. I didn’t speak to her for months because of
that. But having my friends abandon me
to the bully wasn’t what was so formative.
A couple of seniors who were in choir with me came over and got me and
took me back to their table.
From that
day on Lynn and Steve met me as I got to the lunch room. They walked with me through the line. They welcomed me to their table full of
seniors. They stood by me in my misery,
and the bully never bothered me again. It
was very powerful as a helpless freshman to have two seniors stand up for me. I pledged that if I was ever in a similar
situation I would stand up and not let someone suffer because of my silence.
I believe
that is what Jesus calls us to do. Jesus
didn’t come for the privileged or the religious leaders. He came for the sick, the poor, the lonely,
the outcast, and the sinner. The religious
leaders complained to Jesus, too. They
said it was inappropriate for him to side with sinners. Mark 2:17 says, "17 When
Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but
sinners.” (NRSV)
When I stand
up for “Black Lives Matter” or LGTBQ rights, or other causes it doesn’t mean
that I love my white or straight friends and family less. But at that moment you don’t need someone to
stand up for you, they do.
When Jesus
stood up for the sick, the poor, and even the Samaritans it didn’t mean that
God doesn’t love the religious leaders.
It was like in the parable of the lost sheep. Just because the shepherd left the 99 sheep
on the hillside it didn’t mean that he didn’t care about them. It just meant that one lost sheep needed the
attention right then.
Jesus calls
us to care for the least of these. We
are called to stand up for those who need justice. We are to stand up for those who are being
bullied. We are to stand up for those
who feel like no one hears them.
So please
don’t be offended when I stand up for those who need my voice. It doesn’t mean that I love you any less. It means that it is my turn to be Lynn or
Steve for someone else. It is my turn to
be Jesus’ hands and feet. I know the
pain of having someone turn their back on me.
I never want to be the one to cause that pain for someone else.
