How George Floyd’s Death May Have Caused Some Christians To Sin
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Derek Chauvin, the former policeman accused of causing the death of George Floyd. Creative Commons image.
(OPINION) This year’s Holy Week started badly in that it coincided with the kick-off of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former policeman accused of causing the death of George Floyd on May 25 last year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is an event that opens wounds in many hearts.
In the days that followed Floyd’s death, racial anger blew hotter than the proverbial hinges of hell, with even Christians – who are expected to know and do better – losing their integrity and joining those of the world in cursing, when they could have seized this as another opportunity to worship God the more (Job 1:20-22).
What will become of this war between races will not be decided by how many slavery and colonialism-related statues are pulled down, how many emotional statements are issued by huge global corporates condemning racism, or how valid the arguments against racial acts are, but how all Christians – especially Black Christians – react to the abuse that they suffer at the hands of their White brothers and sisters… and by the same measure, how Whites react towards (retaliatory) racist acts by Blacks.
How do we know that the same God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart for His own glory is not the one who is allowing these few White supremacists to behave in the way that they do in order for Him to see what is in the hearts of those Blacks that claim to be Christians (Deuteronomy 8:2)? Are they going to – not just to forgive – but even pray for their persecutors (Romans 12:14), thereby leaving everything to God (Romans 12:19)? Or are they going to take matters into their own hands? Hasn’t this been done from the time of slavery through colonialism right to this day and what has really changed about racial relations globally? Racism is in the heart of man. It is only God who can replace the heart of stone with the heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), so why not leave room for the wrath of God?
As Christians, our victory is not in cursing, but in blessing; not in hatred, but in love; not in evil, but in doing good. Scripture says when your enemy is hungry, feed them; when they are thirsty, give them a drink, as we can only overcome evil by doing good (Romans 12:20), but by not repaying evil with evil (1 Thessalonians 5:15). Christians are better placed to know that the change that the world is seeking can only come from God, but when they join those of the world who (for now) may not believe in God, then what is it that separates them from the world (Romans 12:2)?
Christians may as well have taken this event as a peg on which to hang their prayers, not just for Chauvin, but for all like-minded people of any race.
According to an account in a book titled Christ on Trial in Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (1979), during the Rhodesian war, right in the middle of the grave atrocities – including the shooting down of two passenger planes with female survivors in the first incident allegedly being raped before being finished off by machine guns, brutalities that infuriated the White world – some White Christians within the country started to pray, not for the death of the Black “terrorists”, not for their own safety or just for the end of the war, but they started to pray for the Black young men and women who were waging this bloody guerrilla war against this White minority regime of Ian Smith. In the eyes of the world, this was foolishness, but not in the eyes of God. This White Christian community started to see these “terrorists”, not as the personification of the devil, as those in the world would see them, but as souls for which Christ also died, souls that also badly needed salvation (Ezekiel 18:31, Jonah 4:11). As God would have it, within months of the start of these prayers for the guerrilla fighters (not against them), a ceasefire that had been elusive for several years was agreed on and the war came to an end.
We should never lose the sight of the reality that Christianity is always about giving love where, humanly speaking, it is not deserved. This is what makes Christians who they ought to be… Christ-like. If Christ set an example by praying for those that were crucifying Him (Luke 23:34), why would Christians of today fail to follow His example yet they claim to be His followers?
Nothing, including the cold-blood killing of our loved ones, justifies allowing bitterness to take root in our hearts and defile us in the process (Hebrew 12:15). Remember anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires of us (James 1:20).
If the world hated Christ himself, why should it love us (John 15:18-19)?
That is why it is agape love… Christ-like, because it is given where to those who otherwise rightly don’t deserve it. Love and forgiveness are the hallmarks of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came into the world to show us the way that we should follow if we are to be exactly like Him (1 John 2:6).
Jesus Christ loved and served people across every imaginable prejudicial line of his time, from Gentiles to Samaritans (Luke 17:12-19), to Romans (Matthew 8:5-13) lepers (Matthew 8:1-4), tax collectors (Luke 19:1-10) and ‘other sinners’ (Matthew 9:10-13).
After doing all this, He called us to emulate His inclusive love (John 13:15). If, even this Easter, we can’t at least make an effort to follow the example that Christ set for us, are we not crucifying Him over and over again as we continue cuddling our hatred even as Chauvin rightly stands trial for his action?
Cyril Zenda is a Christian African journalist and writer based in Harare, Zimbabwe.