Resignation to death could have been a common malaise during Jesus’ era. Jesus lived in a time and place when the majority of people died young, their lives cut short. One such youth is a child of twelve deeply loved by her father Jairus. She is stricken and death lurks. But Jairus will not resign himself to death and its seeming inevitability. He is committed to life for his daughter and searches out one who is skilled in healing, Jesus.
Resignation to death and its seeming inevitability, specifically gun deaths, is a common malaise in our own era. We live in a time and place when too many people have their lives cut short by Militarism’s violent ethic. Noting only a few is itself part of the horror; Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Tucson, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and now Charleston. In the weeks and months and unfortunately years to come, new names will be added. Militarism’s values dominate in this empire and thus too weapons dominate. Too many U.S. citizens have become resigned to the inevitability of guns and the death they intend. We cannot be so resigned. It is given to us to be committed to life and to be skilled in healing. Thus, our brothers and sisters who make up Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston will live on in love and forgiveness. Their loved ones will heal the violent death inflicted upon their community. Among other healing actions, they and their supporters are calling for the removal of the flag of the confederacy that schooled the murderer. It is important to remove the deadly flag of white supremacy signifying murder, torture, rape, and slavery. It needs to pass away from public honor. An additional action is to showcase it along with the truth of its violence. Leave it in place and accord the thing the dishonor it deserves. This may also be beneficial, for white supremacists may be using its removal for their purposes. Some white supremacists who initially opposed its removal now favor it; Lindsay Graham, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker, Nikki Haley,. Their change can be linked to moneyed interests who feared an Indiana style boycott. Have white supremacists diverted our attention to taking down one of their flags so as to prevent our taking down an entire culture of death that produces such flags and the weapons that continue to enforce it?
Mother Emmanuel church members and their supporters are calling for a culture of life and the healing actions that promote it. In response let us take supportive action: call on stores such as Walmart to not only remove flags but guns and boycott them until they do; offer legislation to not only ban guns but ban bullets; apply the taxation practices for liquor and cigarettes to bullets; boycott gun manufacturers and their subsidiaries (e.g. Smith and Wesson alarms); boycott NRA corporate supporters who receive financial incentives for their membership (American Sellers Wine, Avis, Best Western, FedEx, Hertz, TrueCar, and the Wyndham Hotel Group (Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Super 8) at the same time we support the companies that stand up to them (i.e. Chuckie Cheese, Costco, Panera); advocate for our local schools to shift social studies curriculum from warmakers to peacemakers; ask our priest/pastor to give a homily/sermon on Jesus being a peacemaker (have they ever?); and especially ask self-labeled Christian gun supporters why they believe in guns and the ‘salvation’ they bring more than they believe in Jesus and the salve-ation/healing he brings.
Prayer: Mother Emmanuel, I devote myself to creating a life-giving world for our young ones.
Question: Jairus was willing to call attention to a healer in the midst of death – am I?
June 28, 2015 Gospel Mark 5:21-43 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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