"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6.11-12).
Last night, the District Attorney announced that the Grand Jury declined to indict Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown.
And Ferguson -- yea even all America -- erupted in the hate-filled violence that perpetuates the sins and struggles that made this shooting possible.
I've said since August that this shooting is not just about two men. I've said since August that it's time those of us in White America bear the cross of sympathy for those in Black America.
So what is now a Christian response to this verdict?
It's not my place to forgive officer Wilson. Peace is not merely the absence of violence, Dr King rightly taught us. Instead, peace is the presence of shalom. I am not merely my brother's keeper (that was the first murder's question); but, because of Jesus, I am my brother's brother. Both Wilson and Brown.
No, it's not my place to forgive Wilson. That is for the Brown family.
What I want to say today is that we Christians are asking the wrong questions.
We're trying to narrowly and tightly focus on the moral narrative regarding the altercation between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson. What happened? Who was at fault? Who is to blame?
That is a moral mistake.
It's a mistake, first, because it asks that one party (Brown) be wholly innocent before we'll treat his victimhood as worthy of respect and attention.
My friend Jim is a former cop. He insisted last night that the "thin blue line" worked. That officer Wilson was justified in his violence because Brown was guilty of his own violence.
But I'm a Christian. And I believe in universal (even if "original") sin. So I think it's impossible to insist on the moral rectitude of one party or another. We are all guilty. You don't make innocence a prerequisite for compassion. Otherwise compassion would cease to exist. (Anyone who's ever read Paul's letter to the Romans should already know this.)
That's what Jim -- and so many of my White American friends -- don't get.
But the main reason it's a mistake to focus narrowly on sorting out the blame in the altercation between Darren and Michael is that it creates a causally closed narrative, a tightly bounded moral drama that played out between two people, and only two people, on the streets of Ferguson.
What the Grand Jury didn't get is that this wasn't a decision about what happened between 12:01 p.m. and 12:04 p.m. on August 9, 2014.
This is about more than three minutes and two men.
To be sure, what transpired during those fateful three minutes is extraordinarily important to the US government, Darren Wilson and Michael Brown's family. And that's what makes the Christian response to this Grand Jury verdict significant. Justice -- shalom -- can only be established with justice bears peacefully, that restores and reconciles wholly. I'm not just Michael's brother, I'm Darren's brother, too.
That's what my friend Jim (and so many like him) doesn't get.
Because a Christian response is about more than what happened in three minutes between two men on one street in America. (Racial) Reconciliation and divine justice with true peace demand more than the innocence or culpability of Brown or Wilson. Let's assume that Michael did try to get Darren's gun and rush him -- does that diminish or undermine Black American rage? I say -- resoundingly! -- No!
The rage on the streets of Ferguson is historical and systemic in both nature and origin. The rage in Ferguson is not rooted in the innocence or culpability of Michael Brown. And yet, that focus on Michael Brown is the temptation of White America this morning. Because if we (1) reduce the story to those three minutes between two men on one street and (2) find enough evidence (as this Grand Jury seems to have done) of moral culpability (in this case of Michael instead of Darren) then the narrative causally closes, the moral loose ends are neatly tied up and the status quo can remain intact. As it does this morning.
See, what I've been saying since August is that we Christians are getting this all wrong.
We're giving in to the temptation and thereby sinning.
If we Christians reduce race in America to those three minutes, those two men, that one street -- well, we've taken the broad way to a hell of our own making. The structures of injustice and oppression are so broad, so our view must be broad, not myopic.
In Paul's language, the moral story of Ferguson this morning for we Christians is that our battle isn't with "flesh and blood". The moral story is about more than those three minutes. The moral story isn't about the relative guilt or innocence of Michael Brown and Darren Wilson -- contra what the Grand Jury said yesterday. The moral story is about historical and systemic oppression and injustice, about the "principalities and powers" and "spiritual wickedness in high places".
And if the moral frame of Christan resistance regarding the principalities and powers shifts attention away from the culpability of Michael Brown, it does the same for Darren Wilson.
To be sure, for Michael Brown and his family, focusing on and determining the culpability of Darren Wilson during those three minutes is extraordinarily important. It's for them to forgive him. And forgiveness is predicated in the Gospel upon the truth. Think Matthew 18 here.
But again, for me (and for every other Christian), this morning (post Grand Jury verdict), the frame has got to be wider! My focus shifts from the guilt or innocence of one man (whether it's office Wilson or Michael Brown), and toward the narratives of Black American oppression and violence that stains the soul of America as a whole.
Again: I'm not just my brother's keeper. I'm my brother's brother. Both Darren and Michael. And every Black and White American.
And, as their brother, the grace and resistance that name Christian living in the Gospel of Jesus Christ demand that I see this as more than a story about what happened in three minutes between two men on one Ferguson, Missouri, street on August 9th.
As for resistance, if the guiltiness or innocence of Michael Brown does not allow us to sidestep the burden of resistance neither does the guiltiness or innocence of Darren Wilson.
That's the temptation for we White Americans this morning. Now that Darren Wilson is "innocent", we'll feel safe and move on.
But, here's the thing: If he'd been found "guilty", we'd have blamed him, felt safe, called him a sinner, and moved on.
The innocence or guilt of Darren Wilson cannot get the system of American racial injustice off the hook. Hear me, America. This is Dr King's legacy to us: Guilt cannot be reduced to three minutes between two men on one street!
Neither Darren nor Michael can be scapegoats.
That's what we Christians should be saying today.
The system wants us to scapegoat somebody. And after this Grand Jury verdict, depending on who you are, that's the temptation. My friend Jim wants to say it's so simple: It's Michael Brown's fault.
Others say it's Darren Wilson's fault. He's getting away with killing Brown.
They're both wrong. Because they're asking the wrong question, and allowing the system to give us such myopic (and false) choices.
The system wants us to keep our focus on those three minutes and only those three minutes. Either Michael or Darren are to blame. So let's blame them. One or both of them. Let's let them carry, for three minutes, the sin and guilt of us all.
Thing is, those of us familiar with the narratives of Grand Juries in the Bible -- think Jesus' own trial -- know it's not that simple.
Resistance to evil never works by scapegoating someone.
Christian Resistance isn't fetishizing over the guilt or innocence of Michael and Darren. Resistance isn't a battle against the flesh and blood of Michael Brown or Darren Wilson. Resistance is about the principalities and powers, the on-gong fight against systemic and historical forces of oppression and injustice.
If we'd been paying attention, we'd already know this. It's the lesson Dr King left with us.
That's what shocks me so much. Because if we'd payed attention to our own Preacher King, we Christians would know: When you focus on the resistance to the principalities and powers, grace is your resource.
There's grace here for both Michael and Darren.
Maybe Michael did punch Darren and try to attack him. Wouldn't I, if I carried the legacy of young Black men in America, have done the same?
And maybe Darren shot a youth in the head as he raised his hands and said "I don't have a gun. Stop shooting!" But am I not, as a White American, complicit in the systemic and historical sins that led up to that moment and which fueled the subsequent resentment and rage?
See, that's my point. I'm my brother's brother.
I'm Michael. And I'm Darren.
And if I can come to see myself in both Michael and Darren then perhaps I can come to see how grace for flesh and blood can emerge alongside and from within rage and resistance.
It's not my place to forgive officer Wilson. That's for Michael's family.
But I sure won't blame him -- as others of my friends are want to do today. (Sorry, Dan, but I think you're wrong, too -- just as wrong as Jim.)
Because I refuse to scapegoat either Michael or Darren.
Because, here's the thing. I blame us. You and me. I blame us for historical and systemic injustice and oppression.
This is about more than just three minutes between two men on one street in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9th, 2014.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against the principalities and powers, against spiritual forces of wickedness in high places. And in that battle, I pray we Christians can resist with grace.