This past week I was indirectly affected by a dear
co-worker/friend losing her husband and mother-in-law in a heinous act of
violence. My friend and her husband had
recently celebrated their fortieth anniversary – and their marriage was blessed
with a bond that exceeded love. Their
immediate and extended families were the vortex of their relationship. Sundays were spent having dinner at the home
of her mother-in-law. My friend’s words
were, “We had the most blessed life. We
always used to say that if we were to die today, we would die happy.”
This unfortunate loss was at the hands of a convicted
criminal with a violent history. While a
gun was involved in these deaths, gun control is an important issue but is not
the root of the violence. Our society seems to have acquiesced to the
inevitability of violence. We hope that
law enforcement can do a better job, that more thorough background checks will
keep dangerous weapons away from criminals, and that the next crazed shooter
won’t be in our neighborhood.
These examples deal with violence at its tipping point, not
at its source. The biblical narrative of
the first heinous act of violence happened in the second generation of humanity
– Cain murdering his brother Abel – in an act of jealousy. Unchecked
jealousy, left to grow and deepen and intensify, leads to acting out in
violence. In other words, violence is
often the tipping point after resentment turns to rage. If we choose to NOT do what is right, then sin is crouching at the door; it
desires to have you, but you MUST master it.
Violence is the result of a pathology of the soul. Violence does not begin with standing armies,
generational ethnic hatred, long standing social inequities. Violence is as close to us as our own hearts. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall
his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)
This scripture links to the fundamental reality that violence against
human beings is wrong. There is a worth,
a value, a dignity, to every human life that makes selfish or wanton violence a
moral offense.
Violence – like all sin – comes out of the human heart. External stimuli can certainly affect people
and deep psychological wounding certainly conditions people, and a culture of
violence gives permission to be violent.
But the instinct and choice to act out in violence comes out of the
heart.
We are called to be peacemakers. We need vigilance, not vigilantes. We need to close the gap with people rejected
by others; connect with the wounded before they lash out and wound others. We need to bring down the level of tension
and stress around us by living in shalom – peace. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin
with ME!!!
