At
a press conference Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake explained why she
held the police back from early and aggressive response to protestors. She wanted police to “…make sure that the
protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech.”
She
went on to say “…we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that
as well, and we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in
the best position to de-escalate." (NBC
News)
The
mediaverse lit up about Baltimore Mayor’s “Space to Destroy.” The mayor was accused of incompetence,
indifference, complicity with the violence, even racism and conspiracy to see
poor Baltimore burn. The mayor and her
defenders said her words were mischaracterized, taken out of context, etc.
etc.
I
don’t know.
But
I do know that what Mayor Rawlings-Blake said sounded an awful lot like
something Jesus said.
In
Revelations chapter 2, the Apostle John quotes Jesus from His letter to the
church of Thyatira:
Nevertheless I have a few things against you,
because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to
teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things
sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of
her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. (Revelations 2: 20, 21)
The
King James Version renders the quote like this: I gave her SPACE TO REPENT.
Jezebel
was the evil wife of King Ahab, queen of northern Israel-Samaria, and nemesis
of the prophet Elijah. She was
responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of Jewish prophets, the corruption local
and national leaders; and she nearly succeeded in making pagan worship the
official and exclusive religion for 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Jezebel
was not a good person.
Jesus
said that John the Baptist was the Elijah of his day. In similar manner, this woman in Thyatira
was/ would be the new Jezebel.
Not
a good person.
But
the Lord didn’t/ wouldn’t intervene early to stop Jezebel’s murderous
activities. In 1 Kings 18 & 19, God
authorized Elijah to call down fire from
Heaven and order the execution of Jezebel’s favorite prophets, but God didn’t let
Elijah take out Jezebel. The Lord let
her live for years more, sending unheeded warning after unheeded warning to
her, her husband, and their subjects.
When
the Lord finally fulfilled His prophetic promise to destroy Jezebel and all of
her house, Elijah had gone on to glory
in a flaming chariot, and his protégé Elisha had to certify the execution (2
Kings 9).
But
why wait? She was not a good
person. She’s a Jezebel. Her name is synonymous with being a bad
person. Why stand back and let her do
all that damage?
Well,
why stand back and let you do all the damage you’ve done?
How
many hearts have you broken?
How
many lies have you told?
How
much pain and suffering has been caused by you, or the friend you love, or the
child you adore, or the sibling you still believe in?
And
why didn’t God take YOU or THEM out early?
We are
all given more “space” than we deserve.
The
theological terms for this are: grace,
mercy, longsuffering, love.
Gracious,
merciful, loving God gave, and will give, Jezebel space to repent. She used,
and will use, it as space to destroy. Gracious, merciful, and loving God responds
to that choice with destruction.
Anderson
T. Graves II, circa 1992, was not a good person. I wasn’t a murderer, but in other areas of my
personal life I had some decidedly Jezebelish ways. God gave me space to repent. In February 1994, I used that space to
repent. God saved my soul and changed my
left for better than I had imagined.
Samaria,
Thyatira, Baltimore, Montgomery, or wherever you are---- in those places, we
are all given more space than we deserve.
It can
be space to repent or it can be space to destroy. The choice is in your control.
The
consequences of that choice are not.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
#Awordtothewise
You
can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button
on the right-hand sidebar.
Support
by check or money order may be mailed to
Miles
Chapel CME Church
P O
Box 132
Fairfield,
Al 35064
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