<> Ask the Pastor The Rev. Walter Snyder Six years ago, completing seminary and preparing to move to my first pastorate, I knew little of Jasper, Texas. I wasn't alone--most Texans couldn't have told me much more, let alone people living elsewhere. Now the name "Jasper" is being broadcast across the United States and around the world. CNN runs live updates. The America Online computer service carries in-depth reports. All the major networks, plus various radio stations and newspapers have flocked to our town. As with most such cases of instant notoriety, the cause is not some tremendous good fortune, but a heinous evil. A black man was murdered, seemingly for no reason than the color of his skin. Not only is he dead, but his life was taken from him in a particularly vicious manner. Christians know that evil is "out there." Satan is a "roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour." We may deceive ourselves, but reminders keep coming back to confront us. God says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Last Sunday, my congregation faced its own sins--including occasional lovelessness toward our neighbors. I reminded them that all of us break the commandments, that hatred of another is already murder in God's eyes. Only a matter of degree separates us from Cain. I said this and more, then spoke God's words of forgiveness to them. At the same time, in the apartment building across the lawn were men who are accused with the ultimate act of lovelessness toward neighbor. Our next-door neighbors are charged with murder. I wonder, "What might we have done? What might I have done?" Even more: "What hatreds of mine might equal this crime?" Thank God that his instruments of justice, our local law enforcement officers, acted promptly. Evil has been confronted, arrests made, and the case will soon be closed. Now we can get on with the healing. Would that it were so easy! However, other evils still face us. Only a few days before, another murder was committed. While it appears to have had no racial motivation, a black man is accused of murdering a white. Now some are trying to forge a link. Groundless rumors abound. A family's grieving is interrupted. Community fears grow. God commanded that there should be no "false witness against your neighbor." By extension, this includes the entire realm of truth and lies. Gossip, innuendo, rumor-mongering, and the like are not seen as terrible crimes. Yet those who speak thus are accessories before and after the fact in this and other cases. They confuse the issue and compound the sin. Evil thoughts and words become evil actions. Now various "experts" and "leaders" of various organizations are weighing in. Most of what I've heard or read contains as much assumption as it does fact. Some try to find a vast web of sheet-wearing whities in Jasper County. Others say that Jasper is a model of racial harmony. The evidence for either extreme is scanty. Fingers are pointed; names are called. The very hate that we abhor in this murder begins to find new avenues in wagging tongues, tapping keyboards, and scratching pens. We scurry to find the "underlying cause," forgetting that we are all born in the same evil condition. Jesus says in Matthew 15:18-19, "What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander." Several things come to mind with this verse. The first is that our sinful hearts need to be directly confronted with God's unending hatred of this condition. Our difference from others "born of a woman" is nothing more than a matter of degree. Race may divide, but it divides because we are united in sin that leads us to mistrust others. God lumps racism in with all the other "evil thoughts" that keep us separated from each other and from our Creator. Yet God has also provided the remedy in his Son. The same Jesus who so completely and harshly condemned these evils then died on the cross to forgive them. He also gave us his Word, his Baptism and his Holy Spirit to both wash away our sins and to lead us into new lives. In Jesus' time, the Jews and Samaritans were polarized even more than are blacks and whites in the United States. Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan does more than demonstrate crossing racial or religious boundaries in order to do the right thing. It illustrates how our holy God crossed over to take on human flesh, to live among us, to take our sins upon himself, although he had done nothing to cause our condition. He went out of his way for us; now he empowers us to go out of the way for our neighbors. This doesn't mean that we ignore the color of others--for that would be ignoring some of the wonderful variety God has given his people. Rather, we are allowed to accept, to embrace, and to enjoy each other, knowing that we have all been made by God, and through faith in Christ are remade in his image. He empowers us to pray with the Psalmist that God create in us "a new heart"--a heart beating with divine love for all of our brothers and sisters. It flows with sympathy and comfort for the grieving. It refuses to hate, to spread rumor, or to live in fear of anything but God himself. I pray for that day when God's perfect love casts out all our fears. That's it for now. You can submit questions by mail to "Ask the Pastor," PO Box 1080, Jasper, Texas, 75951; E-mail xrysostom@aol.com; or just stop me on the street. Walter Snyder is the pastor of St. Paul and Faith Lutheran Churches in Jasper and Woodville and coauthor of the book "What Do Lutherans Believe? A Study Guide in Christian Teachings for Adults." Copyright (c) 1998 by Walter P. Snyder Permission is granted by author to reproduce or retransmit this by any means, provided that its content is not altered, that this notice of copyright and permission is included, and that no financial gain is realized.