A Good Friday Homily

Today is Good Friday for those of the Christian persuasion, and the headline and video below are circulating on Facebook to shouts of "Amen!" from the faithful, who do not recognize how much like those who yelled "Crucify him!" two thousand years ago they sound:

Al Sharpton Enters Dangerous Water, Makes Easter Message About Crucifixion and Resurrection of Obama

Upon seeing the headline and the many replies excoriating Rev. Sharpton and expressing a desire that he suffer and/or die for his remarks, I took the time to click the link, watch the video, read the transcript, check the source, and reply to "the faithful" as follows:

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I continue to be amazed at the number of people who have ears but cannot hear.

Did any of you actually take the time to listen to what Rev. Sharpton said or read the transcript? Or did you simply accept the assessment of the so-called Independent Journal Review (IJR), which is a libertarian propaganda machine that is about as unbiased as FOX "News."

The Right Wing Has Its Own Upworthy And You Won’t Believe How Well It’s Doing

The low-profile Independent Journal Review could be the conservative answer to the social sharing shift.

Link to Source

What exactly is so terrible about a Black minister speaking to a predominantly Black congregation saying this:

I think that the message is, no matter what the world may do to you unfairly, no matter how your crucified, nailed to the cross at home, or in your personal relationships, or on the job that you can rise if you don’t lose yourself during the hard times and the challenges.
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The story of Jesus on the cross. No matter what they humiliated him with. No matter how they mocked him he took it, because he knew he could rise. And the story of Easter and my message for this Easter session is no matter what unearned suffering you go through, that if you know you can rise above it, don’t become like the diseases that you fight.
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As I looked at President Obama at our convention last Friday where all he took he’s been able to rise politically again.. I’m not comparing him to Jesus, but I am saying that to every crucifixion there is a resurrection for those who believe…”

Is your objection that Sharpton is Black? That Obama is Black? (He's actually half White, of course; but that doesn't count in "post-racial" America.)

Is it that you don't believe there is any unfairness in the land of "with liberty and justice for all?"

Is it that you don't believe the intent was to humiliate Barack Obama when a major political party declared that its number-one priority would be to undermine his presidency and then worked incessantly to that end since the day he was inaugurated?

Or is it that you'd rather divorce the Easter message of suffering, death, and resurrection from the reality of everyday life and tuck it safely away in the past where it can make you feel good about being saved without challenging you to live it in the present?

Happy Easter.