Abolishing Evil Systems is Holy

Matthew 27:27-36

When I close my eyes, I often escape to 2016. I vividly remember Trump supporters violently pushing a Black woman at a rally in Louisville, Kentucky. It appeared to me they chose to surround, intimidate, and physically assault her because she was Black, filled with brilliance, and bold enough to tell the truth. As I close my eyes, I see the face of Breonna Taylor who was murdered in her sleep by fraternity members of the Louisville police department. I probably will never get her face out of my mind. We constantly see her on thousands of flyers and millions of Instagram accounts.

There are countless stories of people violently abused, taken from the world far too early, and for unjustifiable ruthless reasons. Violence and murders at the hands of police and those who embody their methodology are nothing new, especially for BIPOC. This engraved violence and savagery did not begin in 1954 or even in 1619. We read of this behavior in the Bible, specifically in our text. Law enforcement agencies have always operated in ways they were intended. 

We are reminded by various historians that police exist to control troublesome populations especially those who oppose “power.” Rioting made policing a problem for those considered “upper class” and who benefitted from the suffering of others. Slave patrols embodied these techniques of policing and were tasked with pursuing runaways and preventing uprisings. We can find these oppressive tactics and behavior in Matthew by priests, Jewish temple guards, and the soldiers in our text. Their duty to protect becomes blurred by anti-black policies. We find communities eliminated not protected and intimidated rather than affirmed.  

While the soldiers in our scripture possibly believed they were accomplishing their goal to serve and protect that’s not what we read. This is not what Jesus or millions of people globally have experienced. Jesus was murdered not only because he was divine but because he was deemed less than. 

What does this mean, as we reflect on Jesus' last physical week on earth?

 Jesus spoke against a Roman empire, state-sanctioned violence, poverty, and the suffering of all those around him. He was aware those in uniform were God’s children working for an evil system. He understood we have the ability to kill the same people we claim to be fighting for.  He criticized those concerned with profit over people, rules over salvation, and status over liberation. Jesus was not calling for reform but a reestablished kindom where those who were hungry could actually eat.

A path to prison or death should not be the outcome. That's not what Jesus preached and that's not what we should live into. 

Jesus did not play respectability politics and held communities accountable. When we reject God’s ways Black women who are filled with faith to move mountains, brilliance, and creativity die too soon. We can miss the signs if we only focus on the pain and not the power structures creating it. We miss the signs and the openings and end up here. A location where routine stops become our last experience on earth. A location where the government can force us to carry crosses never meant to be carried in the first place. A location where members of our divine community are openly and legally murdered and were forced to eat our last meals with them.  Jesus was not the first to be crucified...there were more. The passiveness toward life has no place in this world. 

I've been thinking about history and how we consistently mimic actions and mistakes.  If we are still abusing each other as we read in the Bible what side of history are we on?

The author of Matthew is writing about a movement and we should too. We should be writing about the injustices in front of our eyes, and if we're telling the truth this is what we see. We see police officers dragging people in the street, we see people held captive yet or innocent, we see government officials oppressing the votes of Black people, we see people committing suicide in prison cells, we see capitalism swallowing us whole, and we see people with no water or food.

And here we are. It’s Maundy Thursday and Jesus partakes in his last earthly meal with his community. He will be murdered under a capitalist, patriarchal, evil system that he wants to abolish. We position ourselves to take this walk with Jesus. Let us walk and remember the millions of people locked up behind bars and in their communities. Let us remember the villages being bombed and that 30 pieces of silver and $1400.00 stimulus checks are not enough for what caused Jesus to take this agonizing walk in the first place. We walk toward life not death, freedom not oppression, light not darkness...we walk and refuse to betray each other and watch our family be murdered and mistreated.

Let us ponder these questions, Why is it so easy for us to see Jesus suffering and not our own? Does reform lead us to the claimed freedom Jesus' death is to provide?

 Take time to eat a meal with your community with the determination to eat with them another day. Let us not normalize the inappropriate handling of our lives. Let us make new memories and never forget washing the feet of people who can’t afford water is symbolic and insulting.

Abolishing evil systems is holy. 

Reverend Brittini L. Palmer is a freedom writer, prophetic preacher, and storyteller. She is a graduate of Virginia Union University, Mercer University- McAfee School of Theology, former Public Theologian Fellow with the Interdenominational Theological Center (Sankofa Center), and Princeton University Black Theological Leadership Institute. Her consultation work with organizations and religious institutions has allowed her to write and think about the future of the Black Church and humanity.  Her vision is rooted in an urgency to help make significant and lasting differences in communities of color.

 Reverend Palmer currently provides spiritual support to women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Atlanta metropolitan area. She also serves as a Minister of Community Engagement at Lakewood Church of Hope and is the Communications Coordinator for RISE Together Mentorship Network. Reverend Palmer invites people to read her blog, Black Women Write for Freedom, an online publication created to uplift God, expose racism, and center the stories of Black Women.