They aren’t going to quit
They aren’t going to quit – ever.
You know who I’m talking about. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. Let’s stop talking in the abstract and get right to the point about this. The people who act with cruelty will never stop. They aren’t going to change. They aren’t going to be persuaded. They aren’t going to stop.
How do I know? Because “they” have been around for a long, long time. For all of human history in fact. This isn’t something new. Cruelty didn’t just show up when a governor decided to act cruelly and put people on a bus without any provisions of food, clothing for cold weather, or shelter or any plan of what to do with these folks when they arrived at their destination.
No, cruelty has been a part of the human experience all along.
Humans are experts at cruelty. How else do you explain the lynchings that happened on church grounds right after a church service and then photograph the event with smiling faces for posterity? That’s the epitome of cruelty. (Robert P. Jones recounts this event in his disturbing but necessary book “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity)
Or how about the plethora of other race related cruelty that could be listed. “I can’t breath.” Segregation. Jim Crow laws. Slavery. A justice system that I don’t even have words for.
Or how about the fact that we do nothing about mass shootings. We willingly allow them to continue. They aren’t tragedies anymore. They are cruelty.
Or how about how we treat LGBTQIA+ people. Some of our elected officials think these folks are the biggest threat facing this nation based on the bills they are pushing in legislatures. And that’s not counting the book bans in public libraries specifically targeting LGBT+ literature.
But go back in human history and learn and you’ll see that cruelty is very much a part of the human story. Every single empire that ever existed used cruelty. Every one. It’s just a matter of how. The Babylonians and Assyrians were cruel to those they captured and ruled. The Romans used crucifixion as a form of punishment – why? Because it was cruel and painful.
The Europeans have a long history of especially cruel punishment – dismemberment and cutting people apart all the back in the 1500’s and 1600’s. The cruelty was the point.
And that’s the thing – the cruelty is the point.
We don’t want to admit it, but we humans love cruelty. We love it very much. We love it because it give us two things – a sense of power and superiority. The exercise of cruelty is about power and superiority. We get to think we are better and more powerful than others.
Which is why those who act cruelly are not ever going to quit. It’s a part of human nature.
So what are we to do?
Stop trying to change these people. It’s unlikely you will ever change them. Certainly get in their way, put wrenches in their plans, cause them problems, be a pain in the ass to them, and oppose them in ways that Jesus calls on disciples to live into. Just don’t kid yourself into believing that you will change their hearts or minds. That’s God’s work to do.
As a disciple of Jesus, you are called to something else. Jesus never said to work on changing those who act with cruelty. Throughout the Gospels he calls on his followers to care for the poor, to welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, to care for the sick, to visit and free those imprisoned. In other words, go to those who have been abused by cruelty and be Christ to them.
Our job is to offer hope to the hopeless, love to those who have been offer hatred, care to those who have been harmed, welcome to those who have been rejected, food those who have been turned away empty. We are to see the image of God in others, especially when others refuse to see the image of God in them.
Remember – for those who act with cruelty, the cruelty is the point. And for those who act with compassion, the compassion is the point. For those who act with cruelty, they don’t believe they ever have to answer for what they do – they see themselves as superior. It is pointless to shame or guilt people who act with cruelty into having to answer for their cruelty – they don’t believe they have to and they don’t think they have done anything wrong. For those who act with compassion, they are always answering for what they do – “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? – “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it for me.”
They aren’t going to quit – those who act with cruelty. But don’t let that be the thing that drives you. because that will exhaust you. And that’s what they are counting on – to exhaust you so you quit and give up.
No, this isn’t about them. There will always be another one who acts with cruelty. But know this – cruelty always ends the same way. It ends in the grave, with no hope, no life, not power, no nothing. It just ends. It requires someone else to pick up its mantle to continue it on. It requires someone else to carry its anger, its hatred, its fear, its small-mindedness, its anxiety, its narcissism, its shallowness, its lust for false power and superiority. And in the end, all who carry it find out the same truth – it’s a lie. It’s a hollow, empty lie. And the final victim of the cruelty was the person who acted with cruelty. The cruelty ate their very soul until there was nothing left. Just emptiness. A void of nothingness.
They won’t quit. But we are different. We operate under a different set of “rules.” It’s not that we don’t quit. We recognize that we have to rest because if we don’t rest, we won’t be able to keep going. We’ll be too run down to be worth anything. That’s what Sabbath rest is about. But even in that rest, we keep going, our eye on what lies ahead, knowing that this isn’t relying on us solely. We aren’t the savior after all. How sad that those who practice cruelty think they have the whole world on their shoulders – that they have to have all the power and be at the top of the pyramid. That must be exhausting. No wonder they can’t quit. Because as soon as they do, it all comes crashing down. But for those of us who act with compassion, we have a different way. We are part of a network of sorts – a network that works together, even if we don’t know it. Each act of compassion builds on the the others. It strengths the network. It offers hope, love, mercy, grace. We see these things come alive in our midst. They give us juice to keep going, in spite of the cruelty that we face.
Those who act with cruelty are plenty and have a long history. But that doesn’t stop us. We just are realistic about this. And we keep going anyway. Knowing that we will face more. And we will be compassionate. And we will not stop being compassionate. Because we know something else. There are more compassionate people in the world than there are those who act with cruelty. There always has been and there always will be.
About The Author
Nineveh.
Indeed. Also, Herod and the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents.
Comment
I don’t think I am tracking with you on this one.
Sorry, perhaps I misread you at some point. (I read and write with constant interruptions, so that is possible.)
Taking your title at face value and what seemed to be the thrust of your post, “THEY” (already a dangerous label) won’t stop. They won’t quit.
Who exactly are THEY? What exactly is it they won’t quit or stop doing?
I think you ran through a few usual suspects and crimes with your post. And while, as usual, you get my sympathy in general, your title (and it seems your post too) make no exceptions for these heinous sinners who sometimes do in fact repent (and thus quit or stop).
This may well be the exception I am capitalizing on, but it’s an important one I think needs stated. A present Nineveh as a case study.
Nineveh, of course, is a major exception of an example. Talk about heinous sins and crimes! But according to the story of Jonah, they listen, heed, and repent.
So… perhaps I misread you. If so, I apologize for jamming up your post. But if I follow you correctly, then I am asserting the need for this observation. Otherwise, I fear WE are no better than THEM. I don’t doubt a moment THEY look at us as obstinate obstacles to peace on earth too. WE simply cannot write THEM off, despite evidence to the contrary. In God’s hands, some of THEM, at least some of the time, do in fact quit. And we need to work toward that end with all the grace Luther would teach us.
“They” are the ones who do cruel acts. At least that’s the initial point of the post. Cruelty is often the point.
I hear what you are saying about Nineveh. Here’s my response. Where does repentance originate from? Does it come from the individuals or from God? In my post I made the argument that we can’t change others – certainly not those who act with cruelty. It’s not our job to change them. Jesus never commands his followers to go and change hearts and minds of the Pharisees or the Romans or anyone else who is acting with cruelty. As I said in my post “That’s God’s work to do.” God acts on Nineveh and causes the people there to repent. That’s the only way repentance is possible. We don’t have the capacity to repent on our own.
Which takes us to the deeper meaning of the post. I recognize fully that there is no us and them – and that’s easy to say, but very difficult to live out. I just don’t know how to write without those terms frankly when it comes to such acts of cruelty. I don’t know if what I’m doing is writing them off, or just expressing a whole lot of frustration at people who claim to be Christians but seem to be giving the finger at Jesus and what he stands for and told follower what to do. I’m having a really hard time seeing that I worship the same God as some other Christians based on some of these actions and I really don’t want much to do with these folks based on their cruel acts. While I’m called to love people, I don’t have to like what they are doing and I think we are called to work towards justice – which sometimes means being a pain in the ass and a wrench in the plans of cruel actions.
I’m going to speak up and against abusive and cruel actions because they go against what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I won’t kid myself though into thinking that I’m somehow special enough to change someone else just because I speak up. If someone changes, it’s because God works on them, just like in the parable of Jonah and Nineveh.
Comment
Your clarifying response sounds much more like YOU to me than the impression I got from the original post (whether I read it right or not). To my mind, your words SEEM to write people off as too far gone to care about.
Knowing you as I do, that didn’t ring accurately to me, but I couldn’t be sure. I certainly sense frustration.
And with the caveat in place, I have no argument against your post that I can find. Thanx for clarifying.
I am frustrated with others too. I especially can’t see how anyone following Jesus can take Donald Trump serious with a straight face. My heels are pretty firmly dug in on that point too. Yet there are a number of family and friends I deal with, some I admire and respect greatly, who somehow find themselves as enthusiastic supporters. It’s scary really, because I wonder if the Nazis revived if these same loved ones would cheer on my execution or the crucifixion of Jesus!
Anyway, that’s just one example. It’s an easy, juicy one at that. And it gets me very frustrated.
Your first paragraph reminds me of why i do this blog more as my own therapy and playing with ideas than anything else.