The Cry of the Blood
My heart sank.
There I was, with a thumbtack in the middle of my face. Not what you want to see after spending thirty minutes on the elliptical machine.
I had placed a marketing piece for our two books on the bulletin board in the neighborhood workout facility. Someone apparently moved it and took the opportunity to play “pin the tail” on Lisa’s head.
Was it intentional or a random act?
I will never know, but as much as I want to think it was random, it looked like someone in the neighborhood either didn’t like me, or had issues with our ministry. The feelings were strong enough to passive aggressively pierce my face.
Despite the mystery attacker’s feelings, didn’t Jesus say to love our enemies?
I know the scrape on my heart will heal, and was nothing compared to the deep wounds caused by the vicious murder of nine people in Charleston this week. I will never understand why senseless acts like this occur, but I know God is mourning this great loss like the rest of us, just as he did the first murder in Genesis, when Cain slew Abel.
The Lord said to Cain after this heinous act, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”
The blood of nine innocent victims from the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is crying out today.
The blood is shouting, “Love. Do not hate. Love as Jesus loved you.”
When 21-year-old attacker Dylann Roof began spraying bullets with his 45-caliber handgun, his intention was to divide, but I believe the vicious act has done the opposite. It has brought the Christian community together, just as the killing of another innocent man over 2000 years ago did.
Jesus knew he was without fault, as did his followers, but on the cross he still looked out over the crowd and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The families of the nine victims, using the risen Savior as their guide, are already saying they have forgiven Roof. The daughter of one of the slain, Ethel Lance, said, “I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you, and have mercy on your soul. You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people but God forgives you, and I forgive you.”
When people wound us deeply, whether it is a tragedy like what happened in Charleston, sharp words from a loved one, or even a thumbtack in the face, as Christians, we are called to forgive as we are forgiven. We are commanded by Jesus to love the sinner as we are loved.
I have to believe that Dylann Roof did not truly know Jesus in an intimate way. Otherwise, he would have never chosen this path of hate and destruction. I hope Roof will not be able to escape the cries of the blood from the ground, cries from Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., Rev. Sharonda Singleton, and Myra Thompson. I pray that he will repent, and give his life over to the one who saves, and forgives.
