On a recent car ride, at sunset, I drove beneath the most unspeakably beautiful canopy of clouds that I have seen in my recent memory. The brilliance of the yellows, the warmth of the orange tones, and the hues of purple and pink left me, honestly, stunned. As we drove on, the canvas was transfiguring with greater radiance by the minute.
I was both taken aback and reminded the words of the psalmist,
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork;
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1)
These words are hinting at something important and central to a Christian understanding of the world. We live in what some theologians have called a semiotic universe. To speak plainly, this means that everything we see in this world is a sign, and in a Christian way of thinking, a sign that points you to the glory and wonder of God. “The earth is charged with the grandeur of God” and every moment pulses with meaning. The world is enchanted with a sacred quality and a way to think about our lives is that they are an adventure, a scavenger hunt to find clues, leading us to the beauty of God.
There is something more mysterious, however, and I was reminded of it at that moment: the greatest sign of God’s beauty, even in that sunset moment, was not actually the clouds, but the glimpse I stole of my children, in the rearview mirror, and of my wife in the minivan passenger seat next to me.
This is true because people are more radiant and astounding than the best natural wonder you have ever seen. Human persons are God’s highest creative achievement. People are the clearest sign of the glory of God in the universe.
This is the extent of their nobility and honor and beauty and dignity and worth.
Have you noticed the way that a person smiles? The way the shrug their shoulders? The way they dart their eyes when they are thinking about what to say next? What about the way their nose crinkles when they laugh? Have you seen the way their eyes sparkle when something gives them joy? Have you noticed the way they sit taller when they are proud of themselves? Have you taken stock of the heaviness they carry? Have you seen the look in their eyes when they are fearful? Have you seen their bodies? The wrinkles? The freckles? The folds of their skin? The goofy shape of their feet?
Have you noticed people?
If you are attentive you’ll see wonders of unspeakable glory. Seeing them in this way can transform your life. Benedict XVI wrote, “look at the face of the other and to discover that he has a soul, a history and a life, that he is a person and that God loves this person.”
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The creation story of Genesis 1 tells the tale of the living Lord of the universe making the world and everything in it. He makes worlds with the words of his mouth. He places the stars, measures the seas, crumples up the mountains, digs rivers, and speaks animals and trees.
Then, at the very height of these glories, the biblical narrative tells us one of the more mysterious things that it tells us anywhere: That God makes a man and a woman in his image (Genesis 1:27).
He grants them a unique position and status. He crowns them, the psalmist says, “with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5). He elevates them above the created order, making them vice-regents, co-rulers of the world he made. And as one of the unique ways that he loves them, he gives to them the responsibility to tend to his world.
More mysteriously and beautifully, the narrative tells us that the Lord becomes personally involved in handcrafting them. The Genesis story tells us, “then the Lord formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7). The God of the universe spoke the world into existence displaying his power. But, for people, he became hands-on, like a master craftsman, and gave to them his very breath and made them alive. Humans can breathe because God breathed on them.
So when George Floyd couldn’t breathe, more was going on than we can see.
When he sputtered those words asking for help and mercy, and Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds anyway, snuffing his life out, something was happening and the totality of the Christian doctrine of man must be summoned and brought to bear as we make sense of what we saw. When we do so, we realize that we were seeing the deepest, most unimaginable offense to the living God of the universe.
George Floyd’s life mattered to God and matters still. The Lord knew him. His life mattered and matters because God authored it, knit him together in his mother’s womb, and is intimately acquainted with him. The Lord loves George Floyd with boundless, burning love (Psalm 139).
So on May 25th, the Lord saw and the Lord knew.
At that moment, his anger was kindled in ways that we cannot understand and he will not be mocked.
A question remains, however: do we see, know, care, and do we share his anger?
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We live in a world that does not believe what I have written above about other human beings. Christians, too, often do not live from this distinctly Christian vision of the human person, either.
In 1968, Karol Wojtyła made an observation that continues to hold today. He wrote (emphasis mine), “The evil of our times consists in the first place in a kind of degradation, indeed in a pulverization, of the fundamental uniqueness of each human person.”
This seems to be particularly true of people with black skin.
Remember the way in which God has “crowned” human persons? A part of this honor is that certain persons have been given authority to ensure righteousness, to protect lives, to do justice, to maintain peace, and to protect the sacred dignity of a human life.
Tragically, we live in a world where someone charged to protect, instead, kneels on a human being’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds until the breath of God is choked out of him.
To be clear, a human person was unnecessarily killed in an act of cruelty.
To be clear again, George Floyd is more unspeakably beautiful and precious than the skies and his life was snuffed out as if it did not matter. This should make you throw up. This is why the events of the past few weeks are so deeply disturbing, sickening, unsettling, and anger-inducing. This is what you were feeling when your conscience was pricked.
And to be more clear, it would not have mattered what Floyd was accused of doing. As a human person, he is entitled to justice, respect, dignity, mercy, fairness, and equitable dealing, regardless of the accusations against him.
There is much that can be said here, but we must remember Derek Chauvin is a person, too. And it is precisely because of his dignity, precisely because he bears the image of God, precisely because he was crowned with authority, that he must be taken seriously, and held accountable for what he did. It is about his personhood, too.
This is because human persons have agency. We have the ability to make choices. This is one of the unique honors bestowed upon us. We can stop. We can think. We can deal justly and love mercy. We can cool our emotions. We possess the ability to shape our lives, to shape our moments, to quell chaos, to defend the helpless, to treat someone fairly, and to act in a way that is in keeping with the glorious stuff we are made of.
Chauvin did not do this. Therefore, holding him and the other officers accountable for their actions is actually to respect their humanity and take them seriously. To hold these men accountable is just and right.
Thousands of police offers face unspeakable choices in the tensest of situations. These are circumstances that I cannot imagine. It is hard to even begin to understand the costs and dangers that come with being an officer in these times, striving to be a person of “justice and righteousness and equity” in this work.
But, there is another important thing about human beings: we are capable of holding more than one thing to be true simultaneously. Righteous law enforcement officers must be supported, unrighteous ones held accountable, and policing reforms are necessary to do justice in our cities.
In all of these things, the Scriptures could not be more clear: the Lord has a particular interest in the vulnerable and when those in authority to do not share this interest, but use their privilege and power to exploit and neglect and act in a cruel fashion, they have aligned themselves against God, and God will not stand for it.
When, and if, systems and societies further mistreatment, prejudice, and racial sin they must be reformed and replaced in tangible ways. There are parts of our society that do harm to black lives and bodies. There is no such thing as peace without justice, biblically speaking. Any peace without justice is a facade. We need true justice in order to have true peace. Christians should pursue these things in our call to promote the common good, love of neighbor, and as a witness to the world.
The ancient biblical prophets spoke over and over again of two great offenses against God: 1) the failure to do justice for the vulnerable, and 2) the repeated pattern of gathering to worship God—while justice is not being done for the vulnerable—as if that is no big deal.
It is an insult to God. It must be for us, too.
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Pastor friends were honest with me this week. They told me that they are tired of talking and explaining. They said there is too much work to be done in their communities than to distract themselves with convincing white people to be honest about the things they already know to be true. They told me that it is up to me to speak to people in my circle and to teach them.
These friends were weary and frustrated and it is important to remember how right these emotions are to feel. Jesus couldn’t stomach injustice because Jesus was the most human human who ever lived. I saw a deep Christlikeness in their weariness.
They were sad and it is important to remember how right this emotion is to feel. Jesus wept tears of weariness when he took stock of the city of Jerusalem because of their calloused failure to see the kingdom that he was bringing. Jesus was sad at death because Jesus was the most human human who ever lived. I saw a deep Christlikeness in their sadness.
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I think it is important that we learn. That we know our history and try to understand why things are the way that they are.
I think it is important that we seek to listen to the stories our friends tell us, to try to understand their pain. It is important that we practice the holy duty of empathy—the ability to feel what another person feels. Empathy is the center of relationships and the seed of compassion.
It is also important that we understand our pursuit of righteousness and justice is essential for our own spiritual health, flourishing, and welfare. We must understand our own hearts and souls are at stake. Sin, in things we’ve done or left undone, erodes life and joy and peace.
I think it is important that we see people differently, that our vision becomes entranced with a vision of the sacred dignity of persons.
It is important that we pray, weep, and grieve. It is important that we tell folks what we think of them. That we say to black friends, “I love you. I’m here for you. I’m on your side no matter what. You are a sacred wonder to me. I need you.” We should say those exact things.
I think it is important that we say, “black lives matter” because they do. Black lives display the glory of God in a unique way. They are precious in his sight and contribute something utterly special and sacred to the display of God’s image to the world. Black lives matter. Black people are entitled to justice and equity in every way because of their creator’s love for them. That phrase has become important for many people dear to me, not as political affiliation or banner supporting a political cause, but as a simple affirmation of my friends’ intrinsic worth and it is important that I say it.
It is important that we learn and read and take it upon ourselves to think deeply and honestly about the society in which we live.
It is important that we speak of these things with conviction within our spheres of influence. I have tried to take prudent courses of action with the souls that God has given to my care. But, I also must be honest and make sure I ask myself a critical question: “Is what I thought was prudence, really cowardice, blindness, neglect, and being complicit in something evil?” I have to remember that if I was deceived I would not know it.
We must ask a harder question: “Am I willing to lay down my life (in a variety of ways) for these friends?”
It is important that we support efforts to do justice. We must seek tangible ways to participate in active things that take strides to re-align our world with the ways things are supposed to be. He hasn’t asked us for much, but this is a central call for God’s people, each in their own time and place. This is our time.
We must listen to those who have been doing this for decades and submit ourselves to their lead.
I think it is important that we commit ourselves to these things while we await a true king who will reign in righteousness.
Our Lord Jesus’ kingdom brings universal redemption and renewal. The pinnacle of this work is the reconciling of human beings, made in his image, to himself. But, the work goes on, until his gracious rule is extended to the entire universe, to every dark corner, bringing all evil under his feet, fully and finally one day. He is moving history toward a particular end—worshippers from all peoples, gathered around, united under his reign. Our lives are caught up in a march toward this day.
All of these things, and more, are important because we have an opportunity to recover our own humanity, too.