It’s Easter 2021.
My religious upbringing taught me that this holiday was like the Christian’s version of the Super Bowl, positioning Christians as the victors, overcoming death and gaining eternal favor in Heaven. I used to love the story when I was a youngster because it made Jesus appear magical and made me feel as if nothing would ever beat me. I even relived the Easter magic with my own kids. We baked resurrection rolls and read the story aloud.
Now, as I grow older, I am seeing the story differently, and particularly this year as Easter falls on the 53rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination.
We live in a country said to be built on Christian principles. “In God We Trust” is stamped on our money. “One nation under God” is recited in our Pledge of Allegiance. I have Christian friends who stand on those beliefs and demand that our elected officials make decisions based on those beliefs, especially when it comes to issues such as abortion. But what about the other lessons? Do we avoid talking about what Christian beliefs say about the poor and less fortunate because it makes us feel uncomfortable? Why don’t we talk about the fact that Jesus was born poor, lived poor, and died poor? And who skirts around the fact that his family had to flee to escape persecution following his birth so they were refugees?
Jesus was a man of color whose feet were like “burnished bronze” and hair was “white like wool.” (Revelation 1:14-15). So why do we push so hard to protect our white supremacist ways and policies? I sat just yesterday and listened to a waitress and a customer talk about how refugees should be shot and killed when they crossed our borders (“Shoot about 25 of ’em and the rest will get the point,” he said) and then, in the next breath, wish each other a happy Easter.
We allow ourselves to believe that the poor are to be blamed for the entirety of their circumstances, even in the midst of a global pandemic. We don’t want our tax dollars to go to food stamp programs. We become upset when low-wage workers receive EITC and make gross comments about “popping out all those kids.” Where’s that Jesus-like love?
Jesus hung with drunkards and prostitutes, flipped tables, rallied against the religious wrongs, and embraced those shunned by society. He didn’t get wrapped up in stereotypes. He wasn’t afraid to mix things up and speak uncomfortable and dangerous truths. Jesus opposed the religious and political elite because of their systemic rules and laws that promoted inequality and proved to benefit only those like them. He jeopardized his reputation and his life in order to stand on the side of the people, and I wonder why we don’t see the same fire and passion in our religious communities today.
I am not asking that churches begin pushing partisan politics, but I am challenging them to be more vocal in the fight for those without privilege. I challenge anyone with power, money, and privilege to understand that our system is designed to benefit the top 1% and agree to work to demolish these systems in seeking equity for the marginalized. To me, working to fix the systems that push social injustice isn’t a political issue; it’s a moral one.
Dr. King was assassinated because he was pushing for sanitation workers to strike to demand fairness and equity. He was on the verge of uniting the bottom to push for change, and, in doing so, presented such a threat to our government that he was killed. I was told this the first time four years ago by Reverend Ronald English who worked with Dr. King. It took a while for me to study and understand why the strike was such a threat, but now I understand. The 1% can’t stand the mere thought of the system being turned upside down to benefit the most of us.
This Easter, I am thinking about the significance of the anniversary of Dr. King’s death falling on Easter. In a country where we have black men being killed at alarming rates and where we have seen violence in recent days against members of our Asian community, the symbolism and metaphors shouldn’t be dismissed.
My kids will spend time today searching for their Easter baskets. We’ll recall the story we’ve been taught about Jesus rising from the dead, as we have for 17 years. But this year … this year we will also talk about how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Jesus were similar and how we feel about the message they both preached about love. We’ll spend time grounding ourselves in those thoughts.
I hope you will, too.
Happy Easter!
Amy Jo
