He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
In the previous post entitled Waking Up, we began our look at systemic racism through the lens of Micah 6:8. To act justly involves becoming informed so we can better understand the realities and causes of systemic racism. Then we can seek justice in our society and in our own actions. Today’s post will delve into the second part of the verse: what it means to love mercy.
The ICB’s translation of loving mercy in Micah 6:8 is to “love being kind to others.” Mercy is kindness; it’s compassion in action. We are to love or delight in showing kindness. And we know from Galatians 5:23* that kindness is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit living in us. In an age of racism, how do we develop compassion and put it into action as kindness?
First, it’s helpful to define racism and how it fits into our own narratives. Racism is the belief that inherent differences (for example, biological) between racial groups determine achievement instead of individual merit and that one’s own race is superior. Racism becomes systemic when those beliefs are built into society, into each of its institutions, to give preferential treatment to the dominant group and allow discrimination toward the oppressed group.
I’m learning that typically, as white people, we do not believe we are racist. We have been taught that being a racist is always someone who is bad and intentionally racist. We become defensive if someone implies that we are racist since we believe we are “good” and that we would not intentionally say or do anything racist. This binary way of thinking of ourselves as good people who are not intentionally racist lets us off the hook for being racist. Consequently, we believe we are not responsible for sustaining racism in society.
Because we are all born into the same society with institutionalized racism, we all have internalized messages that are racist. Our challenge as white people is to replace those messages with biblically-based thoughts that align with the God who created every person in His image. One concept I find helpful is to think of racism and antiracism as a continuum rather than a binary option. When we can admit and confess our internalized racist beliefs, then we are free to move forward without defensiveness as we start to shed our racist beliefs and begin to reshape our thinking. Ultimately, our actions will reflect our true values based on how God says we are to treat others.
In Luke 10:25-37, when a leader in the synagogue asks Jesus what are the greatest commandments, we learn that they are what every good Jew recited every day: to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5), and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). The leader presses Jesus to define “neighbor”, perhaps to prove he has sufficiently loved his neighbor. To the Jews, “neighbor” was narrowly defined as someone who was either kin to you or who ran in the same religious circle as you. Jesus answers the question of who is my neighbor with the parable that we call the Good Samaritan. We see a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who is beaten, robbed, stripped naked, and left for dead. A priest comes along, but not wanting to be made ceremonially unclean by touching a potentially dead body, he walks on the other side of the road. A Levite, a member of the tribe of Levi who serves in the temple, walks toward the man, peers at him, and walks on. Finally, a Samaritan man comes along and stops to help the injured man, binding up his wounds and taking him on his donkey to a nearby inn where he cares for him. He then pays the innkeeper to continue the care until he returns. Jesus asks the question: “Which of these was a neighbor?” The leader answers that it is the one who helped him. Jesus tells him to go and do likewise.
The fact that neither of the religious leaders stopped to help displays their hypocrisy. One avoids the injured man and the other stops to peer at him and then looks the other way. How often, throughout history and even now, does the Christian church turn a blind eye to oppression when it has the power to stop it and offer help?
In the culture of Jesus’ day, the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans as an inferior race because they had intermarried with other races. They also practiced their religion differently than the Jews. For a Samaritan to be the hero of this story was shocking to the Jewish listeners. But for this Samaritan to go the extra mile in seeing that the man is well taken care of shows his compassionate heart, for he doesn’t stop at just a minimal amount of help but continues to go out of his way to provide aid. Jesus shatters their idea of “neighbor”, for compassion has no borders.
The person called the Good Samaritan is a great example of how to break down our prejudices and our learned racism. He sees the wounded man as fully human and in need of help that he is in the position to give. We, too, need to view everyone as humans who deserve our respect, dignity, and love, for that is how God views everyone. His compassion has no borders.
While we may think we are not responsible for systemic racism, we are both individually and collectively responsible. As we allow God to open our eyes and change our hearts, we realize we have both the responsibility and the power to interrupt systemic racism. By our words and deeds, we can make a difference. Jesus calls us to be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32**). Perhaps we start with acknowledging the mercy we have received from the Lord and then extending it to those He puts in our path.
What are practical steps in loving mercy? Pray. Ask God to show you how to be a His vessel of mercy to those oppressed by systemic racism. Continue to become informed. (Click here for resources.) Give to and actively engage with organizations who are trying to make a difference. (Click here to learn more.) Volunteer and peacefully protest where you can. Vote for candidates who want to change the systems that perpetrate racism. Get to know a person of color. Stand up for what is right. Silence is not an option.
While we may not be traveling the steep road from Jerusalem to Jericho, we are indeed on a journey of antiracism. Our society is screaming for the conversations, the actions, and the results. To love mercy, we need to realize that racism is a continuum, that we have to start where we are, acquire the knowledge that we need to change our stereotypes, and transform our prejudicial thoughts into loving acts of mercy. Then and only then will we be able to do as Jesus says and truly love our neighbors as ourselves.
Dear Heavenly Father, I confess my racial biases and prejudices to You. Open my eyes to see the devastation wrought by oppression on individuals that You created in Your image. Change my heart to be filled with Your compassion to reach out in kindness to do my part in stopping the tide of systemic racism. Grant me Your wisdom and love to act justly and to love mercy in my sphere of influence today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
*Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
**Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Text and photograph copyright © 2020 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Adriatic Sea from Otranto, Province of Lecce, in Puglia, Italy.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
ICB translation = Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
In the previous post entitled Waking Up, we began our look at systemic racism through the lens of Micah 6:8. To act justly involves becoming informed so we can better understand the realities and causes of systemic racism. Then we can seek justice in our society and in our own actions. Today’s post will delve into the second part of the verse: what it means to love mercy.
The ICB’s translation of loving mercy in Micah 6:8 is to “love being kind to others.” Mercy is kindness; it’s compassion in action. We are to love or delight in showing kindness. And we know from Galatians 5:23* that kindness is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit living in us. In an age of racism, how do we develop compassion and put it into action as kindness?
First, it’s helpful to define racism and how it fits into our own narratives. Racism is the belief that inherent differences (for example, biological) between racial groups determine achievement instead of individual merit and that one’s own race is superior. Racism becomes systemic when those beliefs are built into society, into each of its institutions, to give preferential treatment to the dominant group and allow discrimination toward the oppressed group.
I’m learning that typically, as white people, we do not believe we are racist. We have been taught that being a racist is always someone who is bad and intentionally racist. We become defensive if someone implies that we are racist since we believe we are “good” and that we would not intentionally say or do anything racist. This binary way of thinking of ourselves as good people who are not intentionally racist lets us off the hook for being racist. Consequently, we believe we are not responsible for sustaining racism in society.
Because we are all born into the same society with institutionalized racism, we all have internalized messages that are racist. Our challenge as white people is to replace those messages with biblically-based thoughts that align with the God who created every person in His image. One concept I find helpful is to think of racism and antiracism as a continuum rather than a binary option. When we can admit and confess our internalized racist beliefs, then we are free to move forward without defensiveness as we start to shed our racist beliefs and begin to reshape our thinking. Ultimately, our actions will reflect our true values based on how God says we are to treat others.
In Luke 10:25-37, when a leader in the synagogue asks Jesus what are the greatest commandments, we learn that they are what every good Jew recited every day: to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5), and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). The leader presses Jesus to define “neighbor”, perhaps to prove he has sufficiently loved his neighbor. To the Jews, “neighbor” was narrowly defined as someone who was either kin to you or who ran in the same religious circle as you. Jesus answers the question of who is my neighbor with the parable that we call the Good Samaritan. We see a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho who is beaten, robbed, stripped naked, and left for dead. A priest comes along, but not wanting to be made ceremonially unclean by touching a potentially dead body, he walks on the other side of the road. A Levite, a member of the tribe of Levi who serves in the temple, walks toward the man, peers at him, and walks on. Finally, a Samaritan man comes along and stops to help the injured man, binding up his wounds and taking him on his donkey to a nearby inn where he cares for him. He then pays the innkeeper to continue the care until he returns. Jesus asks the question: “Which of these was a neighbor?” The leader answers that it is the one who helped him. Jesus tells him to go and do likewise.
The fact that neither of the religious leaders stopped to help displays their hypocrisy. One avoids the injured man and the other stops to peer at him and then looks the other way. How often, throughout history and even now, does the Christian church turn a blind eye to oppression when it has the power to stop it and offer help?
In the culture of Jesus’ day, the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans as an inferior race because they had intermarried with other races. They also practiced their religion differently than the Jews. For a Samaritan to be the hero of this story was shocking to the Jewish listeners. But for this Samaritan to go the extra mile in seeing that the man is well taken care of shows his compassionate heart, for he doesn’t stop at just a minimal amount of help but continues to go out of his way to provide aid. Jesus shatters their idea of “neighbor”, for compassion has no borders.
The person called the Good Samaritan is a great example of how to break down our prejudices and our learned racism. He sees the wounded man as fully human and in need of help that he is in the position to give. We, too, need to view everyone as humans who deserve our respect, dignity, and love, for that is how God views everyone. His compassion has no borders.
While we may think we are not responsible for systemic racism, we are both individually and collectively responsible. As we allow God to open our eyes and change our hearts, we realize we have both the responsibility and the power to interrupt systemic racism. By our words and deeds, we can make a difference. Jesus calls us to be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32**). Perhaps we start with acknowledging the mercy we have received from the Lord and then extending it to those He puts in our path.
What are practical steps in loving mercy? Pray. Ask God to show you how to be a His vessel of mercy to those oppressed by systemic racism. Continue to become informed. (Click here for resources.) Give to and actively engage with organizations who are trying to make a difference. (Click here to learn more.) Volunteer and peacefully protest where you can. Vote for candidates who want to change the systems that perpetrate racism. Get to know a person of color. Stand up for what is right. Silence is not an option.
While we may not be traveling the steep road from Jerusalem to Jericho, we are indeed on a journey of antiracism. Our society is screaming for the conversations, the actions, and the results. To love mercy, we need to realize that racism is a continuum, that we have to start where we are, acquire the knowledge that we need to change our stereotypes, and transform our prejudicial thoughts into loving acts of mercy. Then and only then will we be able to do as Jesus says and truly love our neighbors as ourselves.
Dear Heavenly Father, I confess my racial biases and prejudices to You. Open my eyes to see the devastation wrought by oppression on individuals that You created in Your image. Change my heart to be filled with Your compassion to reach out in kindness to do my part in stopping the tide of systemic racism. Grant me Your wisdom and love to act justly and to love mercy in my sphere of influence today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
*Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
**Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Text and photograph copyright © 2020 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved. Photo of the Adriatic Sea from Otranto, Province of Lecce, in Puglia, Italy.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
ICB translation = Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible®, copyright ©1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Tommy Nelson. Used by permission.
RSS Feed