Do Black Lives Matter, or do all lives matter? I think it’s both – and I don’t mean black
lives as a subset of all lives. Black Lives Matter because there is a pattern
of law enforcement violence towards black people and racial inequality in our
criminal justice system. Black Lives
Matter is the tag, or catch-phrase, for those trying to bring attention to this
issue. Black Lives Matter.
But all lives matter, too. We were all created in
God’s image. In His eyes, “there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.
It used to bother me that God had a chosen
people. It’s not fair or consistent with
the way I think God should be. But God explained his purpose to Abraham when he
said, “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make
your name great, and you will be a blessing …all people
on earth will be blessed by you.” The blessing was not an end in itself, to be
consumed upon oneself, rather a funnel through which God wanted to bless all
people. By the end of the Old Testament,
it’s obvious that the Jews didn’t get it.
Jesus elaborated, “from everyone who has been given much, much will be
demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be
asked.” We gentiles have been grafted in and bear the name Christian, but the
mission hasn’t changed. Whatever blessing we enjoy, we have a responsibility to
share that blessing. Let’s not haggle over the tag that hurting people have
chosen to express themselves; instead, let’s reach out so that our
neighbors know that all lives matter to God.
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