The Sin of Racism

“How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me?” asks the poet of Psalm 116 on behalf of all God’s people. And as Paul points out, all the good things God does for us God does even though we continue to be sinners. “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” [Romans 5:8]

Meanwhile, there are crowds of people, people who are harassed, feeling helpless, like sheep without a shepherd – no coherent leadership, no good shepherds. No one in the established leadership of the nation hears their cry for help, for relief, for care and compassion. Seemingly, only Jesus notices he goes about curing every sickness and disease. One might say there is dis-ease in the land, and those in charge have no idea what to do, or what might help. Or, worse still, those in charge do not even see that there is a sickness and dis-ease across the land. And if they do, they are content to continue to profit from it.

What ought to demand our attention is that in the midst of sickness, dis-ease, harassment and a palpable sense of helplessness, Jesus sees opportunity – and it is opportunity that demands urgency to be addressed. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. I cannot do this alone. Join me in finding a cure for this sickness and dis-ease that has plagued our land and our people for centuries now – there’s no time to lose!”

He appoints twelve people to harvest souls and dispel the sickness and dis-ease that has plagued the land for centuries. He knows there is resistance to change and he will need help to keep his mission going. In his list, however, are a few surprises, a few notorious sinners: Matthew the Tax Collector has been fleecing the people while collaborating with the enemy-oppressors from Rome; Simon the Cananaean was a revolutionary Zealot advocating overthrowing Rome by force. Imagine Matthew and Simon working side-by-side. And then there is Judas the betrayer. Even while we are still sinners, God does not call the qualified. God qualifies the called.

And lest we think this is disconnected from all that is going on all around us today, consider the seemingly odd instruction to “stay away” from Gentiles and Samaritans. That is, only go to “our people.” This could sound like a kind of of racism. But he seems to say, the sickness and dis-ease is most prevalent among our own people. They are the ones who need our help-the ones like us.  

I remember when I first arrived back in Maryland in 1994, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church had issued a Pastoral Letter on The Sin of Racism. Such letters are to be read in public worship on Sunday Morning. And there was a parishioner who sent a several page, single-spaced letter to the then Bishop of Maryland, +Ted Eastman, arguing that racism is not a sin. Don’t go to the towns of all these other people – it is our people who are lost, harassed, without leadership, beset with a sickness and dis-ease, mired in sin – the sin of privilege, or narcissism, or racism, or bigotry – it is a dis-ease with other people, people not like ‘our people.’ It is therefore, says Jesus, our people who need healing, and compassion, and to be harvested here and now and brought into the kingdom of God’s Love for those others we don’t want to be with.

How shall we repay the Lord for all the good things the Lord has done for us? This is the question for all of us. Jesus offers a Way – a mission of shepherding with mercy and compassion. While we are still sinners, Jesus dies for us, over and over again. Only now his name is George, Breonna, Ahmud, Freddie, Trayvon, Michael, Tamir, Jimmy Lee, Emmett, Medgar, Jonathan, Martin and countless others we have never heard of. We are so lucky that God’s Grace is Amazing. But how many more have to be martyred for the Sin of Racism before we hear our Savior calling, “Who will come and work today? The harvest is waiting, but the laborers are few.” When will we join those who have said, ‘Here am I, O Lord, send me!’ How shall we repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for us? To be continued. Amen. It is so. It is the truth. Amen.