“From Israel, Africa to America and around the world, during the history of mankind, racism has been responsible for the senseless killings of millions, upon millions of people.”
In 1994 there began one of the most horrific national genocides in the African nation of Rwanda. In a period of 100 days, nearly 1,000,000 people were murdered, mostly members of the Tutsi tribal population, by the opposing Hutu tribe. My wife and I watched the movie, Hotel Rwanda, which portrayed the story of the slaughter. It was heart-wrenching. The killers and victims were both Africans, both Rwandans, but some belonged to one tribe, and some of another. Africans would call this tribalism, toward Jews it would be antisemitism and in America, we would call it racism. (Photo by Peter Forster on Unsplash)
From Africa to America and around the world, during the history of mankind, racism has been responsible for the senseless killings of millions, upon millions of people. It has risen where tyrants have asserted their power based on race or ethnicity, then used it to divide and conquer, by oppressing or enacting revenge upon their enemies, who were racially or ethnically different from them.
In the beginning it was not this way. Where did this evil come from?
The God of heaven and earth, who fashioned mankind together said, “God created man in his own image…male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27) Notice how God makes a distinction regarding the two sexes, but makes no mention of race or ethnicity. Yes, they were created with a specific skin color, but God saw no value in highlighting it because He looked beyond that. Furthermore, after God finished creating, He called everything “good.” Therefore, the color He created our first parents, Adam and Eve, He took pleasure in.
But the moment our first parents rebelled against their Creator, everything changed. They instantly became separated from God and all His goodness, and became filled with a moral darkness. This depravity forever changed mankind.
Soon this new evil revealed itself with history’s first murder. Cain and Abel were brothers with the same parents, Adam and Eve. Despite that, there was a difference between them. A religious one. The way Abel worshipped the Lord God, was acceptable to Him, but the way Cain worshipped the Lord, was rejected by Him. Due to this difference, Cain looked down upon Abel and his heart became bitter and angry. At the same time, God said to Cain, “…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7) He rejected God’s Words and eventually, this anger turned into hate where he struck down his own brother in cold blood.
What was the cause of this horrible incident? Hate-filled differences. This is the seed that gives birth to racism. Differences do not divide us. Blacks and whites can live side by side. Jews and Muslims can co-exist. Christians and atheists can work together. The differences are not the problem, hate is. When a person begins to see the differences as a liability, and it leads them to become jealous, angry and oppressive – that is when the evil of division takes root.
The gospel of Jesus Christ takes direct aim at this, when Jesus stated, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew. 22:37-39) A fully devoted love for God and our fellow man, can destroy racism from the face of the earth. How? Because divine love poured into the heart of man, celebrates racial differences and sees the beautiful creation of God in it. However, racism seeks only the love of self, and to dismantle and destroy.
Jesus came to our divided human population, filled with so many differences, to change our hearts. He died and rose again to wash us of hate, and fill us with a holy and perfect love toward one another.
A prayer for you – Lord God, examine our hearts to see if any of our differences with others have sprouted into hate for them. Let us no longer be held captive by anger for others. Instead, fill our hearts with love for you and our neighbors. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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