A Study of the Church: The People of God in Context – Day 19

The church … recovery of sight to the blind

Jesus said,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because I’ve been anointed …
to bring good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives,
to recover sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
(Luke 4:18-19)

In that moment, Jesus proclaimed his mission and ministry,
and immediately following, he was run out of the synagogue by the religious leaders;
the religious leaders tried to push Jesus off a cliff on the edge of Nazareth.
Jesus turned around, faced his opponents, and went about doing God’s mission on earth.

June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas the last African-Americans slaves were emancipated, thus ending slavery of African peoples to European-descended White people. 1526-1865 = 339 years of enslavement … or approximately 13.5 generations experienced racism and slavery transgenerated one to the other.

June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas was the  moment in time when finally
the oppressed were freed,
the poor received good news,
the captives were released.

But, the blind did not yet see.

Generation after generation continued to trans-generate the embedded racism;
racism into systemic racism in the form of every possible means by White people –
continuing to act to
hold down,
oppress,
segregate,
crush,
persecute,
blame,
lynch
Blacks in every way possible
so that Whites would
control,
dominate,
command
land, votes, businesses, wealth, education, ownership, elected representation
and, in the process,
see to it that
equality,
equity,
and justice for all people did not exist.

Now, we are in 2020 – 155 years beyond freedom for enslaved people Black people – or 6.2 generations removed. The time is long overdue for the blind to see that their ways are not God’s ways.

Jesus said, “recovery of sight to the blind,” will happen.

My own grandchildren are the 7th generation removed from 1865 generation, which was the generation of my own great-great grandparents who lived in Texas in 1865.

It is with my own grandchildren and their counterparts that I see hope –
hope their strong voices to be heard;
hope for the scales to finally be removed from the eyes of the older generations;
hope for the blind to finally see that we are one human race,
each one of us made in God’s holy image;
each one of us beloved by God;
each one of us worthy of all good things,
including equality, equity, and justice in every way that White people enjoy them.

May the scales fall from our eyes;
may our sight be recovered;
may the blind finally see.

In Christ’s name, we pray, and together as one people and one voice, we say Amen.

Rev. Susan Carter Wiggins