We hate monsters, but we love OUR
monsters.
Eric Rudolph was a serial killer
who murdered innocent people with bombs.
His mama still loved him.
Stalin was genocidal, but Andrew Jackson was a strong leader?
Jeffrey Dahmer killed and ate
people. His parents still loved
him.
Think of Thomas Jefferson the slave
owner and Nat Turner the rebel slave.
Hear in your own head how you condemn one and make excuses for the other,
the one with whom you identify?
Liberal-leaning commentators attack
Ivanka Trump because they despise her father’s policies and personality. But before and since Daddy Trump was elected,
Ivanka championed several liberal causes.
Now, they call on Ivanka to denounce her father and distance herself
from his administration. Comedian and
talk-show host Samantha Bee recently called Ivanka a “feckless c**t” because
she refused to turn on Donald.
That’s not going to happen.
You’re not asking a woman to denounce
a misogynistic man. You’re asking a
little girl to abandon her daddy. You’re
not asking a professed liberal to stand against a conservative administration,
you’re asking a daughter to turn against her father in the moment of his
greates accomplishment.
President Trump may be a racist,
self-worshipping monster; but he is Ivanka’s racist, self-worshipping
monster.
This, scripture affirms that the sin of partiality is the
root of our tendency to injustice and hypocrisy. We hate the sins we hate, but we love the
sinners we love.
Joseph, son of Israel,
exploited a national tragedy to bankrupt and enslave the entire working class
population of Egypt while protecting and enriching the Egyptian elites and his
biological family. Of those three groups,
the only one who had not betrayed and abused Joseph was the working class
population of Egypt (Genesis 47: 13-26).
Jepthah the Gileadite (Judges
11-12) was one of the great Judges of Israel.
He saved Israel from the oppression of Ammonite raiders. He also committed the ultimate religious heresy:
he murdered his own daughter as a human sacrifice to God despite all the
explicit commands in the Bible not to ever perform human sacrifices.
Samson (Judges 13-16) had the
powers of a superhero, powers which he used to impress Philistine women and win bets against Philistine men. The deliverance he gave to his own people was
the accidental result of his (literal) dying request for blind vengeance.
David (2 Samuel 11) betrayed the
most honorable and loyal warrior in his most elite division. His highest ranking general knew it. His royal ministers, the members of Uriah’s
household, and most of Jerusalem knew it.
(Come on now. Factor in the time
to discover Bathsheba was pregnant, send word for Uriah, get Uriah back from the
front lines, send him back to the front lines, kill him there, get word
back, have a mourning period, and hold
the wedding, which traditionally lasted a week.
Bathsheba was showing before the honeymoon.)
Absalom, David’s favorite child, killed
his own brother; burned down his David’s best friend’s field (2 Samuel 14),
overthrew his father in a coup, slept with/ raped his father’s wives, and tried
repeatedly to have his dad murdered (2 Samuel 15-18). David never condemned Absalom, and he forbade his forces to harm him despite his crimes. When General Joab, David’s oldest friend
defied that order, David held a grudge so deep that on his deathbed he ordered Joab's assassination (1 Kings 2:5-6).
Aaron, Moses’ older brother, made
the golden calf and led the children of Israel in its idolatrous worship, all
while Moses was on the mountain receiving the 10 Commandments (Exodus 32). When Moses came down, he ordered the Levites
to “kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor,” but Moses didn’t let anyone touch Aaron. Aaron got to keep his life and his status;
less than a year later he was consecrated as high priest.
Joseph, Jephtah, Samson, David,
Aaron, and others who did worse are revered as heroes of the faith. Except for David, there’s no record that any
of these men every repented or even felt convicted over their atrocities.
They did great good in their lives,
but they also committed great evil, but we ignore their monstrous sins because of the good they did for their faith,
for OUR faith.
We hate monsters, but we love OUR
monsters, and that is the kudzu root of all kinds of evil.
We cannot have justice until we can
judge our friends and our enemies with the exact same measure of wrath and
mercy.
You
shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for
I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 24:22).
We will not be a just nation or a
righteous church until we commend our political rivals and condemn our social
allies in equal measure based on what they did, not what (we think) they stand
for.
You shall do no injustice in judgment. You
shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In
righteousness you shall judge your neighbor (Leviticus 19: 15).
We can’t honestly call ourselves ethical, or good, or godly until we treat
all monsters the same.
For there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11).
History and Scripture agree that such has never been the case in human civilization. We may not see real justice until Jesus
personally comes back, but society’s historic failings don’t exempt you and I
as God’s people from the commands to do justice and love mercy equally for all
alleged sinners.
Look around and look within and be honest about the kinds of monsters you
love, the affiliations and self-designations that get a pass from you and the
ones that receive immediate condemnation.
Work on that. Wrestle with yourself. I’ll do the same. That’s
the only way to overcome the most vicious monster in the room, the monster we
love more than all others: the one who looks back at each of us from the
mirror.
--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. He writes a blog called A Word
to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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