On Sunday we explored one of Jesus’ more controversial teachings to turn the other cheek. We learned how the primary value we ought to be living out each day is the love of Christ. It does not matter if someone returns that love or is downright hostile to us, we are called as followers of Jesus to respond the way Jesus would respond. That’s what Jesus meant in the Sermon on the Mount when we embrace God’s peaceful kingdom. When someone strikes us, we respond with God’s love, confident that we are a child in his kingdom.

After the sermon, I was reminded of a powerful story about a young African American woman named Keshia Thomas, who was featured in Life Magazine’s photo of the year compilation in 1996.

Keshia was 18 years old when a group from the Ku Klux Klan held a rally in her hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. A large group of counter protesters showed up, greatly outnumbering the small, yet vocal band of white supremacists.

The day was peaceful for the most part until an older gentleman with swastika tattoos was spotted near the Anti-KKK side of the gathering. Mob mentality took over and a few people began rushing toward the man, pushing him to the ground and trying to beat him. Keshia saw this unfold and ran toward the brawl, eventually placing herself between the crowd and the man. She shouted a people to stop (namely saying that you “can’t beat goodness into a person!”) and that violence wasn’t the answer until police arrived to break up the fight. In some photos of the incident, you can actually see Keshia try and hold the man’s hand in order to offer some sense of comfort and protection.

Keshia never heard from the man or whether the incident had changed his worldview. But she did hear from the son of that unnamed man, who thanked her for her loving, selfless actions. In later interviews about the day, she even talked about her Christian convictions and how she felt God’s power when she threw herself down to protect the man, namely that angels were right by her side. Keshia’s words about the incident are so touching:

“I knew what it was like to be hurt. The many times that that happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me.”

Only through knowing Jesus Christ can we show love towards our enemies. Jesus was serious in Matthew 5, and God gives us that ability to chose love over violence the closer we draw unto him.

When thinking about prejudice in our world, there are so many ways in which we are addicted to these “pre-judgments.” We do it so many times without even realizing it.

In extreme cases, this leads to physical harm. Regardless of skin color, belief system, or any other category, we read about the harm of prejudice all the time in the news–this wasn’t a problem we as a society had overcome after the Civil Rights era! Prejudice still plagues our culture. I’m reminded of seemingly countless instances of violence in our world today:

• Race: A disturbed man in Kansas in February this year killed two Indian Americans after telling them to “Go back to your country.”
• Religion: Another Kansas man connected with white supremacy and anti-semitism sought kill Jewish people outside a local community center, and ended up murdering three Christian bystanders.
• Ability: Youth in Illinois kidnapped and tortured a disabled man while filming it and posting it on social media.
• Gender: Statistics are dire when it comes to domestic violence–as many as 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will be the target of violence at the hands of an intimate partner.

But even in other cases that don’t result in news coverage, prejudice does hurt the people it affects. We might not struggle with public bigotry as some of these stories include, but we still often cling to stereotypes and assumptions that genuinely harm other people. We assume that people from other ethnicities are just too different from our own. We might think that one group of people is simply lazier or not as intelligent as another. We may even have the prejudice that one group is more prone to violence or other vices, without any data to support our judgements. The reality of our world is that we are addicted to judging other people. We categorize and judge people based on how they look, speak, act, and live.

In Christian ethics–the study of what is right and wrong according to our relationship with Jesus Christ–there is an important distinction to make. God calls us to judge things, not people. In other words, God calls us to make judgments about right and wrong, but we should never sit in the judgment seat over any other person.

Judgment about right and wrong is called discernment, which is obviously an important practice for our daily life. But once we cross the line and begin to judge a fellow human being, something dangerous happens: we pretend to act like God. It doesn’t even matter if that person wronged us–judgment belongs to God alone simply because we are sinful creatures and have no right to act like God.

When we apply this to prejudice, it is clear that things like racism, classism, and sexism have absolutely no place in God’s kingdom. Projecting our prejudice onto someone else is literally judging that person in an effort to exclude them from God’s love. Jonah did this in the bible story we read on Sunday. He crossed that line and began to judge the people of Ninevah, assuming that they should not receive God’s mercy!

Instead, God calls us to see everyone as created in God’s own image. It doesn’t even matter if that person is a Christian or not–absolutely everyone is loved by God. This means that we must treat other Christians as fellow brothers and sisters, regardless or ability, gender, skin color, wealth, or any other social status. And even when we encounter a non-Christian, it means that we ought to treat that person with the same love Jesus showed, so that they too might become part of God’s family.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

We’ve all heard this children’s rhyme before. Sure, we might be physically harmed by a stick or a stone, but words could never damage us, right? Sayings like this one assume that the best thing to do is to just ignore insults–after all, they don’t physically hurt you like a sucker-punch would.

I think it is safe to say that we all know the “sticks and stones” adage is misleading at best, and downright false at worse. Yes, speaking a word do not literally cause physical harm, but we all know that words impact our life. Words can hurt deeply. Words can absolutely tear us down. Words can actually drive someone to do terrible things. Even though words don’t exactly have the same physical consequences as being struck by a stick or stone, words matter greatly in our lives.

Psychologist John Gottman noticed this in his research on relationships. Perhaps you’ve heard of his “5 to 1 ratio” for life. He argues that for every one negative comment or action, someone needs at least five positive comments or actions to counteract it. In other words, if you criticize your spouse 10 times in one day, theoretically, you would need over 50 positive interactions to “fix” that rift in the relationship. Negative words and actions have a greater potential for harm than positive words and actions have for good.

Another psychologist, Douglas Fields, once wrote that: “The environment that children are raised in molds not only their mind, but also their brain. This is something many long suspected, but now we have scientific instruments that show us how dramatically childhood experience alters the physical structure of the brain, and how sensitive we are as children to these environmental effects. Words–verbal harassment–from peers (and, as a previous study from these researchers showed, verbal abuse from a child’s parents) can cause far more than emotional harm.” Demeaning or putting someone down can stick with that individual for years in the future, causing all sorts of problems with emotional and social wellbeing.

On Sunday we explored the power of words, particularly when Elisha was insulted in 2 Kings 2. This sometimes comical, sometimes terrifying story teaches us that ignoring God’s guidance will ultimately lead to destruction. Insulting and attacking other people can have drastic consequences. We talked about Elisha calling out the she-bears could be interpreted as a parable of warning to all people–don’t be like the city of Bethel, because if you abandon God’s law, its like being attacked by two angry momma bears!

The words that we hear spoken to us can have lasting consequences. Chose your words wisely, and remember to always speak in a manner that reflects God’s kingdom. Here are some bible verses that can remind us about who we truly are in God’s family. Keep this in mind as you speak words of life to others.

• You are a child of God. John 1:12 says, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
• You are accepted. Romans 15:7 reminds us, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
• You are known by God. Jeremiah 1:5a tells us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”
• You are chosen by God. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
• You are complete with God. Colossians 2:10 promises us, “And you are complete in Jesus, who is the head of all principality and power.”