Christ was innocent in every sense of the word, and He had to be so that His sacrifice could be acceptable in the Father’s sight. But still He was killed, in the most brutal way possible, while watching His mother breakdown as it all happened. Those that killed Him faced no earthly consequences. They were not tried, or even indicted. The only thing they would have to wrestle with was the guilt of killing an innocent man, if they felt guilty at all. He understands the pain of being unfairly targeted, He can identify with the pain of the parent losing their child to something so ruthless and cruel.
We should find comfort in this, but we shouldn’t become docile because of it. When Christ died, the apostles were dejected. They felt like all hope was lost, but He came back to them and sparked a fire in them that led to them fiercely proclaiming the Gospel and it’s teachings. They protested, were beaten and imprisoned for spreading a message, that in it’s entirety, was pure. This message was to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbour as you love yourself. You cannot love God without loving your neighbour, and loving your neighbour includes fighting for and with those who face oppression, who are failed by the law, who are systematically disadvantaged.
Images from: IbTimes. CBC @ Reutgers; Reuters/Patrick T. Fallon (retrived from RT.com)
THE CHRISTIAN
Emma Labadie
There has been a lot to be thankful for in 2014. Unfortunately, it’s also been that year of police brutality, creating a further divide between police officers and civilians. Although many other atrocities have taken place this year, I have chosen to speak about racism, as it is one area of injustice that is either widely denied or not spoken about enough, especially by the church.
The faces of Mike Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, just to name a few have been all over out tv screens these last few months and we have seen the protests, hastags and tweets condemning their unlawful death.
This article was written during the height of the race debates in 2014. What can we do to change our attitudes in 2015 and beyond?
We should not allow ourselves to become content in injustice, we need to do what we have been called to do which is to spread the Gospel, and consequently spread love.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” - Matthew 28:19&20
Logan Browning joins the increasingly long list of African-American celebrities to protest against the unfair treatment that black Americans face from the criminal justice system. The British system has also been called into question many times since the Macpherson Report in 1999.