The evening of July 17, 2015 will forever be engraved in the minds of those who call Charleston, South Carolina home. Suspect Dylann Roof reportedly attended the bible study held at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church that night, along with 12 other citizens, where he then committed what is being called the “largest mass murder at an American place of worship.” Nine people were killed that night, another was shot and survived.
Recently in the media, we have seen more and more reports of racially-motivated attacks in our own country, for example, Ferguson and Baltimore. In a country that is supposed to be innovative and forward-thinking, it seems an issue that was supposed to be sworn off years ago is rearing its head again. I'm not here to discuss the situations in Ferguson and Baltimore, but rather the aftermath of these situations compared to that of Charleston.
The deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray sparked a discussion, to say the least. I think we can all agree on that, no matter what side of the fence you sit on when it comes to the motives/handling of these situations. The riots and protests that followed these deaths knocked a screw out of our gears: this was something we needed to talk about, or things would only get worse and (potentially) more violent.
And then, in Charleston, South Carolina, nine citizens were murdered. Unlike the previous situations, there were no speculations about how this happened. There was no room for “the police did this” or “we believe this happened.” Again, lessening the severity of the situations in Ferguson and Baltimore is not my intent. Any loss of life that leads to the kind of chaos we saw is worth taking a closer look at. However this was a different situation. This was blatant, walk-in-and-shoot, racially-motivated mass murder.
I can’t be the only one who expected to see more unrest unfold in the streets of Charleston. I can’t be the only one who waited…and waited, and waited some more for the news stations to explode in a frenzy of trying to cover the chaos they were seeing. And then I saw something that absolutely rocked my world.
Wow.
These families and friends, the people who have more of a right to feel like doing these things than anyone, told the very person who took their loved ones away that they forgive him.
Why? I know I certainly wouldn’t hold it against them if they didn’t forgive him. How? I don’t see myself having the strength to stand up in court and say that out loud.
There’s only one way I can see this being possible, and that’s through the strength, grace and love of Jesus Christ. Luke 6:7 tells us to “Love [our] enemies, do good to those who hate [us].” Colossians 3:12-13 says to “clothe [ourselves] with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another…forgive as the Lord forgave [us].”
I don’t know about you, but forgiveness has always been one of those topics that I’ll read about, I’ll listen to a sermon about, I’ll sing a worship song about, but I’ll rarely take the time to understand what I’m being called to do.Sure, I’ll forgive a friend for getting a stain on my favorite top. I’ll forgive the guy who cut me off on my way to work. I’ll even go so far as to forgive the girl who said those awful things to me, and the guy who broke my heart. But if I’m being honest, truly forgiving someone for killing my mother or grandma or brother probably isn’t on my list of capabilities. I wouldn’t be able to do it, and I never would have held it against the families of those ten victims for not being able to do it either.
But they did. Can you believe that? I don’t even want to try to put the anger and hurt they’re feeling into words. I wouldn’t be able to do them justice; it’s too overwhelming and crushing to pretend to understand. Yet they didn’t lash out the way I’m sure we all expected. The city of Charleston didn’t lash out the way we expected. I’m not foolish enough to think that the entire city of Charleston is going to follow in these families’ footstep, that’s near impossible. But these individuals did something no one saw coming. They forgave.
A tone was set last week in Charleston, a tone of forgiveness, of grace, of Jesus. Christ used this tragedy to work for His good, and I, for one, wish that this reaction was getting as much attention as the others have.
