People are angry, and that anger is justified. There's no getting around that. Right have been violated. The Constitution has been violated. People have been murdered by federal law enforcement on the street in broad daylight.
How should a disciple of Jesus Christ respond? First question to ask, "What did Jesus teach?" Second question to ask, "What did Jesus do? What example did He set?" A following question, "What example did His immediate disciples set based on what He taught them?"
Neither Jesus nor His disciples were strangers to shocking abuses of power and violence against them or others. Whether it came from the Judean religious leadership, the Herods, or from Roman authorities, they saw it every day. They experienced it themselves. Unjust beatings and humiliations, kangaroo court trials, mob violence, and executions on a whim. Consider Stephen's brutal death in Acts. Consider how many times Paul was beaten. Consider Peter and John's arrest by the Sanhedrin. This was the world they lived in.
How did they respond to all of this? Did they attempt to hurt or injure their attackers? Did they attempt to rebel against the governing authorities? Did Jesus when He was arrested?
Be angry and do not "sin". Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. Return no one evil for evil. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."
Every fiber of my flesh tells me to respond with anger, outrage, and it burns towards violence in response. Violence meant to protect the innocent, at least in my mind. Protect the people I love, the people who didn't deserve this, what remains of the ideals of the country I was raised in. Anger begins to become hatred for those causing the harm, and it becomes incredibly difficult to really "see" them and "love them as myself." This is my flesh's threat response in action, and it is overwhelming. But it is born from the flesh. Understandable. Justifiable even. But it is born from the flesh.
The disciple of Jesus Christ cannot operate from the flesh and remain a disciple. Jesus and His disciples taught operating from the Spirit, the Logos; cooperation with and submission to the God who is love of whom we all share a piece, a part, a shred. With whom we are one. He taught the most important thing was to love the other person no matter who it was or what they had done. To forgive so many times you lose count. To not judge. His compassion had no limit, even for those shredding His skin with a whip, beating the hell out of Him, and nailing Him to a wooden cross. This was the example He set. This is what God is truly like.
Alex Pretti was a child of God and carried His logos. So was and did the man who shot him. God loves both of them. Nicole Good was a child of God and carried His logos. So was and did Jonathan Ross. God loves both of them too. Alex and Nicole are now in His presence and are safe from all harm. But God wants the men who killed them in His presence too, made right and restored from what led them to this. God's love does not end when someone commits an atrocity. It sets out to redeem and restore them from the serious error and malfunction that's causing it. That is God's justice, restoration and reconciliation.
If we are going to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we must not cooperate with our flesh's threat response. We must disengage from it, neutralize it, and instead cooperate with that God born nature that is inside each one of us. We must love, even those who try to destroy us.
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