Gospel-Centered Empathy

I am so tired.

For the past month I have been processing the recent racially motivated killings of African Americans in this country. I have been heartbroken and disgusted, and honestly I have found myself questioning alot of things. My mind is unclear in many ways when it comes to what direction to go and how I can help bring healing to this gaping, bleeding wound of racism in our country. I think that the knee-jerk reaction that we have when these things happen, whether it is racial injustice, gun violence, or another form of hate-caused tragedy is to give our thoughts and prayers when everyone else does, say how awful it is, and if we are honest, move on. There is a sort of implicitly self-imposed distance that we have from these issues, specifically as white Americans. Specifically with the issues of racial injustice, we have to be honest as white people. I am someone who likes to think I am aware of the issues minorities face but I am being dishonest with myself if I cannot admit my own privilege and even my own implicit bias. It is wired into us by the culture we grow up in as white people. I have to be honest with myself about the little ways my whiteness adds ease to my life. My privelege adds comfortability to my life that minorities in this country do not feel. Here are just a few examples:

• When I get pulled over, I am fearful of getting a speeding ticket and I will be stressed about it until I find out if it is a warning or not. That is all I fear though, as growing up I had no reason to fear officers.
• When I go running, I am more concerned with weather, snakes, or maybe someone stealing my Apple Watch than getting jumped and violently killed because I look like someone who committed a crime.
• When I watch movies, a majority of the main characters and heroes have skin like mine.
• When I have kids, I will not have to explain to them the scary realities they have to face due to their complexion.

I do not know how it feels to fear for your life on a traffic stop. I do not know how it feels to be scared of going on a run. I do not know how it feels to get suspicious looks in the grocery store. I do not know how it feels to deal with the reality of having to explain to your child the realities they have to grow up in. I have no idea how these things feel. And, as heartbroken and grief-stricken as I am by these recent tragedies, I can never know how painful this is for the African American community. To my black fiends who are reading this, I am so sorry. I am truly sorry for the pain you feel and I am so sorry for the many times I scroll past the stories that don’t make headline news. The reality is, there are many more of these events that happen without cameras there to film them. The sobering reality is that the only reason why people are speaking out about the murder of George Floyd is because a camera was there. A camera captured it. I hope and pray that the white people who knew this man have the loudest voice for justice. If I am being realistic though, the sad reality in America is that the quietist voice is also the most privileged voice. This tragedy has sparked vocal outrage from white Christian leaders, which has been good to see. My questions for my fellow white people are the following:

Why does it take a death for us to listen to our black brothers and sisters?

Why does it take a video for us to believe them?

Will our action and voice on this issue span beyond the amount of time it is on the headlines?

I truly believe that an utterly sad side of social media is the birth of what I call “trendy compassion”. Trendy compassion is essentially empathy as a result of what the majority of people care about at a given time. The problem with this kind of compassion is that it is a trend. Trends come and trends go. Right now, the compassion for racial injustice is at a high, but where will that compassion go when no one is talking about it or pointing it out? Will we follow the trend and follow the majority into silence? Will churches stop addressing it or caring about it? I want to challenge myself internally and my fellow white Americans to have Gospel-centered empathy rather than trendy compassion. What is Gospel-Centered empathy? I could probably spend a few pages writing about what that is, but I want to use one specific verse from Scripture. It is so simple yet so important. Ready for it? Here is is:

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35 (NIV)

Yep, that is it. Jesus cried. This is a part of what is one of the most powerful stories of the healing work of Jesus that we find in Scripture (Go read it!). Jesus knows He will heal Lazarus, yet as His friends, those He loves mourn, He mourns with them. He feels their pain. This is a powerful vision of the empathy of Jesus. We don’t, however, just see the tears of Jesus over the course of His life. We also see in Matthew 21, the action of Jesus. He stood up for what is right. I also think about Jesus standing up against the religious leaders as they wanted to stone a woman caught in adultery. I think about Jesus valuing women in a culture that did not. We see Jesus breaking cultural barriers and having dinner with people that most would not want to be seen with. Jesus took action on His Empathy. He would not stand for injustice. The Gospel itself goes completely against any sort of racism. The Gospel unites the Jew and the Gentile. It doesn’t see one as better, it values each as made in the Image of God. The. Gospel sees color. In fact, Christ created different complexions and sees the beauty in them. Even the complexions of we have are reflections of God’s amazing creativity. That is why it is tremendously hurtful to minorities when we say “I don’t see color”. I also would suggest that the phrase hurts the heart of God. The Gospel leaves no room for white supremacy, in fact it goes completely against it. Racism is demonic and it is an attack on the Life, Words, and Truth of who Jesus is. We have a call to act against this, not just to react. Gospel-centered empathy is not Gospel-Centered if it is not accompanied by action. I have personally felt challenged in how I can do better. I want to share some things that I am learning to do better as I work towards greater empathy, understanding, and as I grow to act against prejudice.

1. Listen (And believe people when they share their suffering)
2. Be ok with having uncomfortable conversations with those that you know who ARE prejudiced. Speak the Truth in Love.
3. Have Humility and admit your own bias
4. Don’t just read books by white authors, read and support books written by minority authors. If what you are consuming is coming from only one perspective, you are missing out on so much, and you’ll never be able to fully understand people from other cultures.
5. Work to live a multi-cultural life (Have friends who look different than you)
6. Read the words of Jesus prayerfully and live accordingly
7. Address racism in your church
8. Talk about this issue even when the headlines go away.

Ultimately we cannot fix this if we do not recognize the need for change. I want to challenge you to prayerfully examine how maybe you can be more aware of this issue in your own life. I am doing the same.