Evil

Matthew 23:4 - "They tie heavy burdens, hard to bear, on the shoulders of others and do not wish to lift a finger to help them."

Jesus accused the Pharisees of making others' lives harder as a way to keep their power. Straight people that claim homosexuality is a sin are the Pharisees. White supremacists who wish to make Black people second-class citizens are the Pharisees. Racists who want to halt all immigration and are willing to punish those who come across the border illegally by splitting up their families are the Pharisees. Rich people who blame poor people for their poverty (and do nothing to help) are the Pharisees. Able-bodied people who claim disabled people are lazy and/or faking it are the Pharisees. Men who think women should be submissive are the Pharisees. The one thing these people all have in common (besides the overlap) is that none of them are tempted by these sins or affected by these attitudes.

Many of these people claim that these ‘truths’ can be found in the Bible. They cannot. God loves all her children equally. To suggest that any of them are in some way less deserving of God’s love than others is to take the Lord’s name in vain. It is blasphemy and heresy. To act on such ideas – as our current administration has done – is cruel, sadistic, and monstrous. These actions are evil. They create suffering and chaos for no benefit to society.

To be clear, it’s not the words we use, but our actions that are problematic. The problem is Jared and Ivanka opening the ‘embassy’ in Jerusalem while unarmed Palestinians were being killed for protesting. The problem is that Black people get killed by police with impunity. The problem is that Puerto Ricans are not treated like the American citizens they are. The problem is Republicans passing a tax bill that cuts taxes generously and permanently on corporations while making sure the meager tax cuts given to others expire in a few years. The problem is the attempts to gut Social Security, Medicare, and the ACA. The problem is Ryan and McConnell keeping silence about this administration’s corruption. The problem is the NRA crippling congress’ ability to pass gun legislation that would make it harder to shoot up schools. The problem is that not enough of us are outraged enough to speak out against these things.

However, the biggest problem is that they have done all this in God’s name. Supposedly, we share the same God, but I don’t know that god. Their god is a trickster god who sows destruction and chaos. My God is Love and cares about the flourishing of his people.

I was going to stop there, but it didn’t feel complete. I need to confess that I thought these actions were not normal. I was being astonished every time a black man or woman was killed by police for no good reason. The truth is, these are normal occurrences for people whose skin is dark: Black people, Asian people, Latinx people, Puerto Rican people, Indian people, Arab people. It is also normal for those of us whose sexuality is not strictly straight. It is normal for people experiencing disabilities to be discriminated against by temporarily able-bodied people. What’s not normal is 45’s treatment of European-Americans in the same way.

So, instead of being astonished each and every time these things happen, let’s work toward a new normal. Let’s work toward the ideal that “all [people] are created equal.” Creating such a change in our attitudes will not be easy. Yet, Jesus calls us to do it anyway, just as he called the disciples to the same change in attitude. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to take on that upside-down thinking of the kin-dom rather than the money and leisure obsessed empire of Rome on which our society is based.

We need a new foundation; a foundation of radical and extreme love for all God’s good creation, including that person you just thought about. Along with this new foundation comes a new way of seeing and being in the world. Love can give ‘white’ people the courage to bring other ‘white’ people into the fold. Love can give us courage to stand up and oppose the evil all around us; the evil of racism, classism, sexism, heteronormativity, ableism, and consumerism.

Let’s stop being astonished. This is all normal. Instead, let’s use our energy to fight for a society where all can be free.