It’s Holy Week, and the aspect of this time that makes me sick, that is a punch in the gut, is the unnecessary violence. When I went to Israel both times it was the pit that Jesus was lowered into to wait Thursday night, wet, dark, sharp with bare stone, that drove home for me just how alone Jesus must have felt, just how painful this must have been. Just how cruel the world can be.
This morning I was scrolling through my email and saw a post from a neighborhood group about someone shooting out of their car down Belmont Avenue last night. And there it was, more unnecessary violence. More building up of hate, misunderstanding, revenge.
We are told that Jesus suffered so horribly to end all suffering. I am not the first person to point out that just didn’t happen. My current theory is that we are willing to say that violence is unacceptable until we think we need it, and we are unwilling to look at all forms of violence with equal judgement.
What about the violence of poverty? Is it a coincidence that most violence occurs in areas of the most desperation? We can all agree no one should be hungry, everyone should have a job that pays what it takes to survive, we need to improve our housing stock. Who is willing to give up some of what they have to make that happen? What will we sacrifice for our brothers and sisters?
We say that we are against the violence of racism. But we are unwilling to address the economic disparities that racism has caused that would help create a more equal playing field for people of color. We are unwilling to stand against laws that limit voting or gerrymander districts to disenfranchise whole groups of people.
We say that domestic violence is wrong. But where are the laws that protect victims? Where are the laws that protect rape victims? Where are the laws that protect children from abuse? These are separate issues but all point in the same direction. We are unwilling to take on the power that is being protected.
All violence is not physical. And violence cannot happen without support from the community. But we can’t pick and choose which violent system we want to change. It’s all or nothing. Until we stand strong and willing to give up something of ourselves, we will continue to see the suffering of Jesus in too many of our neighbors.