Hate Crimes and Jesus

This is part of a series entitled: "Practical Christianity: Applying the teachings of Jesus to daily life."

The teachings of Jesus have a lot to offer us in the area of hate and hate crimes. We know that hate crimes are a growing problem, even here in our liberal little town. Here in Santa Cruz, due to the selfless work of people like David Silva, we will soon become the first city in world to officially designate itself as a "Hate Free Zone." Last Sunday Pastor Eden and Laura spent the day working to make this a reality as well. They got some great television coverage. If you have not yet signed one of the petitions for this ballot measure I'd encourage you to do so. We're a little over half way to the ballot now.

But you know what? Passing a ballot measure, as important as that is, can't solve the problem of hate. Hatred is internal ailment. Its a matter of the heart, of the soul. If we would see an end to hatred and to hate crimes we must begin in our own lives, in our own hearts. The teachings of Jesus can help us accomplish this.

Thou shalt hate thy neighbor who differs from thee. Thou shalt beat upon him with a vengeance. Thou shalt take away her job, his children, thou shalt burn his places of worship and, if thy neighbor repenteth not of her diversity, verily shalt thou take away his life" - From the book of Neo-Puritanism chapter 6 verse 66.

There is no Book of Neo-Puritanism of course. But the ideas expressed certainly do exist! Violence and hate crimes against those who are "different" is seemingly a religious occupation with many people, even to many Christians!

We sometimes want to "Do unto others before they do unto us." We are paranoid, afraid of what we don't understand and so we sometimes lash out. Sometimes when we feel insecure about who we are as individuals we "Do unto others as we think we deserve to have done unto us." By making someone else look "lower" we assume that we look "higher" by contrast. Sometimes we do this with cute little phrases like "There but for the grace of God go I" or one of my favorites, "I hate the sin, but I love the sinner!" Smug little phrases meant to elevate us in the esteem of others, and ourselves.

Hatred exists. It has always existed and it always until Jesus returns. This is a fact of life. However hatred need not rule our lives. That hatred exists is unavoidable and all the pithy aphorisms in the world will not make it go away. How we deal with it however is very much up to us. Do we incorporate it into our lives? Do we return tit for tat? Do we allow it to fester in our souls, building resentment, fear and continuing the endless cycles of hate?

We can learn a lot from this homeless, financially destitute, Jewish son of an unmarried woman from an occupied third world country!

Scripture says at Acts 17:26:

"From one person God made every nation of people, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and God determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."

We are all sisters and brothers, children in the one human family.

Some would say "Yes, but we are not all alike and we have to watch out for "them!"

Glory to God! How boring life would be without diversity! Yet "different" does not mean "dangerous!" Salt and pepper compliment each other! So too with us, our diversity gives us many flavors and alternitives. This need not be scary.

Genesis 1:31 tells us that after the creation of the earth's vast diversity, "God saw all that He had been made, and declared it was very good."

God considered the diversity to be "Very Good!"

And yet when we encounter diversity we sometimes think it is not good. Some even say that diversity is evil, an abomination! We should all be just alike! We sometimes fear diversity. We prefer predictability, uniformity. We feel safer, more comfortable with people like ourselves. To try and maintain our comfort zone, we sometimes feel its ok to exclude others.

However Jesus taught at Matthew 5:38-48:

"You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing more than others? Do not even unchurched do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This celebration of diversity had always been the Hebrew ideal, as we read at places like Lev. 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD."

Someone will say, "Yeah, but my neighbor is ____ (fill in the blank). But you see, Jesus instructs us to love everyone. The harder it is, the more unlovable the person is, the more difficult it is for us, the greater our reward is with God! Besides, to someone you are a "Fill in the blank" person! Don't think you're the only one with prejudices!

For some people it may be easy to show love for persons of African decent, but difficult to show love for Caucasians. One person may find it easy to love heterosexuals, but be repulsed by the idea of showing love toward gay men and lesbians. Guess who you need to love!!! Love your "Fill in the Blank" people! first!

Someone may object, "But THEY, those "Fill in the Blank" people, are not my neighbors!"

But what does Jesus say? Luke 10:25-37:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" Jesus replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A person was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan [insert the name of your "Fill in the Blank People here!], as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,' he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Who is my neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Everyone! No exceptions!

Don't be like the religious hypocrites in this story. The priest who passed by the person is like unto the neo-Puritans of our own time. They see others as "unclean," "impure," as "social outcasts," and based upon this exclude them and seek to deny their rights. Likewise the "Levite" who passed by is like the current crop of Bible thumpers. They find some unrelated statement in the Bible, ignore the context, and based upon it justify discrimination and exclusion.

No, the model for we followers of Jesus is "Do unto others as we would have them do unto us." If I were a "Fill in the Blank" how would I want to be treated? With love and respect. If among the many "blanks" that apply to me is a category of "unsaved," then I would want to be shown the truth of God in love...IN LOVE. I'd want to know that Jesus died for me, that he loves me and accepts me just as I am. Were I a homosexual, an African, a Caucasian, an Asian or whatever I'd want to be shown respect and be allowed to live my life without prejudice and bigotry.

As the legal eagle in this story rightly said, the heart of God's will for us to "Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength and with all our minds;' and also to `Love our fill in the blank neighbors as ourselves."

Someone will say, OK, so as a follower of Jesus I'm supposed to love everyone. I can accept that. After all, I'm not the one doing the hate crimes! What about them? I hate people like them! Why, I'd to ...

Jesus has wisdom to share here as well! Back to Matt. 5:38-48:

You have heard that it was said, `An Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father in heaven. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the unchurched do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now, perhaps someone will object that this extreme pacifism and will not work today. Mahatma Gandhi in India proved to the world that it still works! The existence of the sovereign nation of India is proof positive. There is power in peace!

It is essential however that we understand what Jesus meant by his instructions. Some of us have this habit of finding one Scripture and basing our entire belief system on it. If we as followers of Jesus wish to walk a well balanced life, we must "rightly divide the Word of Truth." We must contrast Scripture with Scripture in order to understand its wisdom entirety. Things are seldom "black or white."

Likewise, is Jesus here saying that we must be "doormats" to anyone who would abuse us? Absolutely not, no more than Gandhi's followers in India were. They were incredibly courageous in their non-violence disobedience. We beheld the same courage in many of the followers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the US. As Believers we are to stand firm in our resistance to evil, always with non-violence, even as we place our trust in Jesus.

The command of scripture, at I Pet. 5:7 - 10 is:

Cast all your anxiety on the Lord because He cares for you.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist the evil one, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to HIs eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Jesus did this. You will recall the woman who was taken in the act of adultery? The people of the town wanted to stone her, as the Levitical Law instructed. Yet Jesus intervened and the woman was spared. But notice how he intervened. Jesus used reason and the power of conviction: "Whoever among you is without sin, must cast the first stone!" he charged. At other times he used Scripture to intervene and stand up for the truth. But intervene he did, resist he did!

Jesus did not sit idly by as injustices occurred. In the same way we as his followers need to speak out against hate, against anti-Semitism, against racism, against homophobia, against ageism, against uncontrolled nationalism and so on. We must do this in love to be sure, but as organs within the Body of Christ we must speak out on matters of injustice and hatred.

What would drive a person to commit a hate crime? Why would a person choose to use terror against another person? Fear? Yes. Ignorance? Certainly. At the heart of it however hate crimes share a common cause and have a common solution. Hate crimes are done by people who do not know and love the sacred heart of Jesus. Sometimes hate crimes are done by people who call themselves Christian. While we can't judge another's salvation, we can say that hate is not a Christian virtue and that those who think it is need to draw nearer to Jesus in prayer and balanced Bible study. They also need to become personally acquainted with their "Fill in the Blank" people. This is one reason why, from time to time, Grace Inclusive Church offers Interfaith Dialogues.

On Wednesday, September 22, [1999] at 6:30 pm, here at Louden Nelson Center, we are thrilled to present an Interfaith Dialogue with my dear friend and Interfaith Reverend Faith Feldman. Faith's grandparents died in the Holocaust. Her father, Alex Feldman, is a camp survivor who was interviewed by Steven Spielburg's Shoah project. Faith will be sharing her father's Shoah tape and stressing the importance of minority groups standing together in opposition to hate and prejudice.

We all have blind spots. We all have areas in which we do not see clearly, where our own prejudices and misconceptions block our development as followers of Jesus and as thinking, compassionate people. In love I say that sometimes we too must remove the beams from our own eyes rather than focus on the specks in our brother's and sister's eyes.

So then, what's the solution? How can I, as a follower of Jesus, let go of my prejudices? How can our society most effectively deal with and do away with hate crimes? How can those who perform these acts of violence be stopped? The answer to this and to all other questions is Jesus.

Jesus is the answer.

As we develop in our loving relationship with Jesus our prejudices will gradually be absorbed into the ocean of God's limitless love. As this happens the love of Jesus will naturally flow more and more clearly through our lives and impact those around us. As we determine to always ask the question, "What would Jesus do," and then to do that as best we can, we gradually become more Christ-like, which is what the word "Christian" means. As we more and more devote ourselves to Bible study and prayer, we become more "Christian" and more truly followers of Jesus. As this happens our inner hatreds, fears and prejudices are gradually replaced with what Jesus called "the peace that passes all understanding."

As our city, state, nation and world is confronted with the truth of Jesus' words they will be gradually transformed by Jesus' love and mercy. Scripture says that we are the light of world. If we want a world where God's love is present, we need only turn up the light of our own Christian love. We shouldn't curse the darkness, we must turn up the light! This is where the Moral Minority and similar groups miss the mark. Despite our best intentions, love is the only real power we have.

As our sometimes misguided Christian sisters and brothers see the good fruits of Christ's love manifested in our lives, they will gradually come to realize that God is in our midst and their prejudices will gradually fade away. I've seen this so clearly as of late. People who are convinced that God rejects this or that group are forced to reconsider their views when members of the group demonstrate God's presence in their lives. We are indeed to resist evil, but we are to do so with love and respect.

Here is the solution:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up

- John 3:14

May God bless and keep you!

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