Today’s Scripture Reading (April 4, 2016): Psalm 11 & 12
A year ago, twelve-year-old Zarriel Trotter spoke out against gun violence in Chicago in the subject of a Chicago public service announcement. He spoke passionately about not wanting to live in a community where people keep on getting shot and killed. The Public Service announcement was supposed to focus the attention of the City of Chicago on the effect of gun violence on the city’s black youth. The video won an award, but since then the violence in the city has only gotten worse. And last week, Zarriel Trotter became one of the latest victims of the Chicago’s violent sub-culture. Trotter, now thirteen, was shot in the back by a stray bullet while walking home from playing basketball. It would be nice to think that this was an unlikely occurrence, but the reality is that gun violence in Chicago is nearly double what it was last year at this point in time, and homicides are up almost 85%. It seems like a common sense statement to say that something must be done. It seems common sense to say that the killing of our youth, regardless of color or socioeconomic situation, is simply not okay. But as many have mentioned, common sense in often not all that common.
Of course, the argument is that the possession of guns is a protected right in U.S. Constitution. I totally understand that. But we need to understand that with rights come responsibilities. We have a right to bear arms, and that means that we have a responsibility to bear them in such a way that other innocent people, like Zarriel Trotter, will not be injured by our rights. If we can’t live up to our responsibilities, then we have no right to anything. Zarriel Trotter has a right to be a child, to play basketball and walk home and be safe. His parents have a right to believe that their child can safely play with his friends without being hurt. And I know that this will not make a lot of my friends happy, but I have no idea how we can place the right to own a gun above the right of our children to live safe lives. If my right to own a gun is placing others at risk, then I need to be willing to give up my right.
In the past, I have often read this Psalm and divided the two ideas in this verse into two separate clauses. First, God tests the righteous. Second, he hates the wicked, which the Psalmist defines as those who love violence. But what if this verse was intended to be a single statement on the same subject. What if those who love violence, the wicked, formed the test for the righteous? In other words, what if the shooting of Zarriel Trotter, a thirteen-year-old black boy in Chicago by those who seem to love violence, was the test for those who want to be counted among the righteous? What if God forms his opinion on my righteousness and the extent that I have been remade into the image of Christ by my reaction to the situations like the shooting of Zarriel Trotter?
Inside the Christian Church, we are often marked by our opposition to abortion and to euthanasia, the killing of the unborn and of the terminally ill. Our mantra is often that only God has the right to take life. And yet we defend vigilantly our right to bear arms, even though life continues to end because we have an attraction to things that “go bang.” If we are to be defined by a “right to life” stance, that stance needs to be more than just about birth and the grave – it needs to encompass everything that comes in between.
The right to possess arms is not more important than Zarriel Trotter’s right to live. In a civilized society, it cannot be. And as Christians, I believe we will be judged on how we react to those who love violence – and the measures and loss of rights that we were willing to subject ourselves to in an effort to stop the wicked from practicing their violence on our communities.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 13 & 14
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