Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, August 5, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I can’t read this without thinking about the U.S. criminal legal system. In fact, I just now read an article about the criminalization of black youth in this country and it’s enraging and heart-breaking all at once. I know that’s not what this passage is addressing, but reading it with modern eyes, I can’t help but wonder about how many criminals and mischief-makers in first century Palestine were labeled so by a society that made it a crime to be non-conformist or non-majority culture. This short passage sets up a black-and-white dichotomy between suffering for crime (justified) and suffering for believing in Jesus (unjustified). But the truth is, such dichotomies are entirely artificial and give rise to the kind of “us” and “them” beliefs that lead to the criminalization of, for example, black youth.
Yes, I get what the writer is trying to say: If you get in trouble for doing the right thing, don’t be embarrassed by it—God’s got your back. But maybe we can allow this deceptively simple exhortation to lead us into fruitful discussion about how God also has the back of the murderers, thieves, criminals, and mischief makers. Maybe that will push us toward true justice in our modern context.
Have I ever gotten in trouble for doing the right thing? What were my feelings about it at the time? Now?