When I read Jesse Jackson’s quote from a sermon this past Sunday, my heart began to burn. Then on yesterday, I attended a march in downtown Indianapolis where over 2500 people showed up seeking “Justice for Trayvon”
As these leaders stood and passed the megaphone, the crowd chanted with great fervor: NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! Ministers of the “gospel” next to me delighted in stirring the crowd. It seemed as if it was almost a competition to see who could say the words that would provoke the crowd the most; recounting the years of injustices, the defiance needed for change, and the need not to be oppressed. I was grieved as I watched the unholy spirit of the gospel of ethnocentrism, throw the crowd into convulsions of zealous response.
Today I posted briefly on facebook about the Jackson sermon and posed the question, “Do you see what Gospel is being preached?” A friend responded that no one was taking away from the power of the blood of Jesus but rather highlighting the powerful actions that can come from the bloodshed of those who have died. However, the very lack of mentioning THAT BLOOD, the blood that was shed for not just black people, but that liberated ALL of HUMANITY from slavery and the fallen systems of this world at the very moment where people need to be reminded of where TRUE hope and TRUE justice prevails..is an AFFRONT to heaven.Proverbs 12:16 says, A fool’s anger is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor. Instead, many of our churches are revealing their own lack of divine wisdom by allowing our pulpits to be used to fan the anger into flame and draw us into valuing our earthly identity over our heavenly citizenship. By default, due to the historicity of the relationship between the church and the black community, the rest of the culture follows suit.
So I walked through every portion of the crowd and shouted at the top of my lungs “JESUS IS OUR JUSTICE! JESUS IS OUR PEACE!”And I realized, this message is the only message that will sustain, preserve, protect, and lift us. The Trayvon situation is merely the manifestation of humanity. Zimmerman is fallible. Trayvon was fallible. The police are fallible. The justice system is fallible. Our marches are fallible. Our policies are fallible. We are fallible. Therefore, we must preach about a blood that is infallible, a government that never fails, and a ruler whose reign is established on the foundations of Justice AND Righteousness. Our ancestors understood this. We must repent and return.
–Jonathan Tremaine Thomas
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