Christ died for every soul. He died for Africans, Asians, Americans, Arabs, Brazillians, Europeans, Greeks, Hispanics, Indians, Jews, Slavics, Turks, Syrians, and every tribe and person. In a time of racisl tensions, look to the cross, to Christ upon it! He didn’t chose only one tribe thank God, He chose us all, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes,” (Ephesians 1:4). When the world is dividing, and people are tribing, I say look to Jesus, He died for black and white, yellow and brown and every shade of human flesh! He poured out his Blood equally for each race and unites us through Him!, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28).
These times are dark, people are being torn asunder. It reminds me of when Pakistan broke off from India, families were torn in two as they had to chose which nation they resided in. In the same way we are being pressured to choose a tribe, but we are suppose to embrsce all races with warm arms of Christ! Jesus made us all, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:16-20). He created all peoples and we must emphasize Christ’s arms are outstretched to all people.
This resurgent racial tension is antichrist. It divides, when Christ unites. None of us or our ethnic people group are perfect, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) but we all have redemption in Christ, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephensians 1:7). We need to admit every tribe and kingdom and nation has guilt, has sin, but all are redeemable through Christ! The focus of this age is on the sinner or the sins, rather than the Redeemer. When people fail and commit acts that are abominable, the consensus is “crucify them!” And yet how many wrongs have we secretly done? What if our errors before we repented and reformed were taken up to crush us today? No one would have hope, all of us would be subjected to severe punishment, and yet Christ came and took our punishment. He gave the apostle Paul, who murdered Christians (Acts 8:3), a second chance and turned him into the apostle of the Gentiles, and author of two thirds of the New Testament! Think if we had judged Paul today, when he was Saul who was proud of His Jewishness and condemned all races, when Saul reformed became Paul and said, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Galatians 3:28), and “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). Paul went from racist to Christist, accepting all peoples weither Jew, Roman, Greek, Ethiopian and beyond. What if Paul was judged for his past when he wasn’t that person anymore? We’d have a shorter New Testament and so many revelations of the Holy Spirit lost.
Through Christ people change. They can transform from bigots to best friends, prejudice to peacemakers, haters to lovers, racists to lovers of all races. But if we burn people at the stake, and don’t give them at least the chance to repent and turn from their dark ways, we condemn ourselves, because we then say we should have been struck down in our sin and wickedness. Now repenting and forgiveness does not always wipe away earthly consequences and justice, you must serve the sentence. But if that person is released and claims they are a New Creation and have abandoned hatred and xenophobia, are we not to welcome them with the same loving arms of Christ? What is God had left us to our punishment? We all would burn in the inferno, but thanks be to God that he chose to save us on the cross, and that he lets us not be defined by our sin and bad behavior, but by Him and His sacrifice. Shall we not afford such grace and mercy to our fellow man? Or shall we be hypocrites, expecting God to forgive our faults as we caste stones on sinners?
For Christ said:
“But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins,” (Matthew 6:15),
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” (Matthew 5:7),
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” (Matthew 7:1-2)
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8: 7-11).
God has standards, but He is merciful with us. How can we turn on our fellow human being when we have received God’s mercy and grace? Let us be peacemakers, “ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” (Matthew 5:9) and Ambassadors, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
We must remember, people are flawed, “to error is human, to forgive divine.” Christ is divine and lives in us (Colossians 1;27, 1 John 4:15). He forgives us, so let us forgive. Amen.
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