- Anger won’t win the day for Christ. Love will.
Assassination of a public figure is tough and rarely brings out the best in our culture.
But the “best” is what is needed right now for the Gospel.
Charlie Kirk, a frequent and exceedingly popular figure on college campuses across the country, was gunned down in Utah this week, news footage depicting his death in grizzly detail. He was a formidable Christian voice but known even more for his support of MAGA and President Trump.
In a 24/7 news cycle, those who get the news out quickly with the most detail win, so rare are the initial voices afforded opportunity to think deeply before speaking. And in this paradigm, what we say first is usually disappointing. This goes for those on the political and cultural Left as well as those on the Right.
In contrast, these kinds of moments in Christian history have sometimes been handled extremely well, bringing helpful light to and through the Church. Hebrews describes past heroes of the faith: “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release…Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawn in two, killed with the sword…went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – ”
As those ancient events were happening, we have scant evidence that the faithful were storming the ancient equivalent of social media, foaming-at-the-mouth mad, sarcastic, angry, spouting furious diatribes. The Church’s inspiration came from Jesus on the Cross pleading with the Father for mercy for His killers. Stephen, too. After he was stoned, followers of Jesus — instead of appealing to politicians or flooding the courts — made their way to the cities and countrysides to preach the Word. The Gospel swept the Roman Empire in the wake of such moral and spiritual fiber. The Church didn’t slow because one of their own brutally died.
We believe in the rule of law, of course. In the Kirk case the shooter and any who conspired with him should know the full brunt of legal punishment. But be mindful…the world will hardly remember that justice. What they will be moved by is examples like Corrie Ten Boom, forgiving the guards who brought death to her family at the Ravensbrook concentration camp. Or Elisabeth Elliot returning to Ecuador to lead to the Lord those who had killed her husband Jim. Or John Paul II’s prison visit to his would-be assassin in 1983 to pray for him? Or the Amish families of Nickel Mines extending forgiveness to the shooter’s relatives, tenderly visiting them and creating a fund to help the shooter’s family. Victims’ families from the tragedy at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015 showed up in court to speak words of forgiveness, as well.
Jesus and the early church pointed the way. Uncomfortably, for us, I think: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…” (Mt. 5:44). “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” (Rom. 12:14)
Perhaps this one is the hardest to swallow amidst such a tragic event: “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Mt. 5:22)
Anger won’t win the day for Christ. Love will.
Charlie Kirk will never again speak on a college campus. But the Church can’t flinch; at our best, we never have. We need to reengage and send a hundred to take his place – speaking, discipling, planting, reaping.
Christlikeness in the form of bleeding, dying, and marching forth in love and filled with Jesus’ Spirit are powerful weapons in the Church’s arsenal.
