Day 75: Collateral Damage: “A Tsunami of Hate”

DAY 75

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK ELEVEN: THURSDAY 28 MAY 2020

Collateral Damage: “A Tsunami of Hate”

“The coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering … anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets … immigrants and foreigners have been vilified as sources of the pandemic, …” - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on 8 May 2020 

I was visiting an orphanage in Albania, filled to the doors with children from toddlers to teenagers. Without birth certificates, they were denied access to everything from health care to public schools. They were all Roma, Gypsies, disliked – and sometimes hated – across Europe.

Prejudice – sometimes overt hatred, infects all human hearts, its source. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 16:19: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder …” and 1 John 3:15 says  “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer …” Hatred, prejudice and murder all share in common the denial of the equal value of the other person.

What is it about external threats – in this case a pandemic – that calls forth in some the best in humanity of compassion and selfless service to others, and some the opposite: animosity, anger, hatred, scapegoating. In our brokenness, we have a tendency to need someone we can view as less than we are, someone we can blame for what’s wrong, as though in some way such an attitude and behavior protects us, makes us a better person, when in reality the opposite is true.

It was said of Joseph’s jealous eleven brothers that … they hated him …” Genesis 37:8, so they sold him into slavery in Egypt. And then there’s Amnon, David’s son, and his half-sister Tamar, David’s daughter: “… he raped her. Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her.” 2 Samuel 13:14-15. We don’t need to engage in such blatant behavior as Joseph’s brothers or Amnon, for hatred to find its way into our hearts. But we do need to heed the admonition in Proverbs 4:23: “… guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Reflective question: Will you ask the Lord to show you anyone in your heart you don’t view as of equal value to yourself? Now ask him to show you how to deal with it.

Reflective Scripture: Proverbs 10:12 – “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”

Reflective hymn:

“Jesus Loves the Little Children” – C. H. Woolston (1856-1927)

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight –

Jesus loves the little children of the world.