Say Their Names: Let the Church rise!
this is a long post but I beg you to stick with me, especially if you proclaim to follow Jesus or are curious about how the Bible can inform our cultural moment!! my brothers and sisters should know this is very important to me and I deeply appreciate your engagement with it!
seeing as #blackouttuesday is about clearing platforms for black voices and issues, I want to share an assignment from my Old Testament theology class in the fall. I wrote this piece in November after studying several commentaries' take on a passage of Exodus following Israel's escape from slavery and wandering in the wilderness. this assignment breathed life into me as a black woman FED UP with the pain of racial injustice and silence in the Church about matters that so clearly live close to God's heart for his people.
brief preface: if your theology does not include any voices of oppressed people, including POC, indigenous or non-Western cultures, women, etc. then you WILL miss crucial, embodied elements of the Gospel. period. the biggest breakthrough of my walk of faith is realizing that the Gospel of God's redemption is not abstract and wholly transcendent over real human experience; it has implications here and now. I am finally learning that my context and my people and our pain are near to the heart of God. that blackness is a gift of God that lets me long for God's shalom and understand/appreciate the life and teachings of Jesus in deeper ways. that "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West or "Changes" by Tupac can be a worship song too (please go listen to both and read the lyrics on genius.com as you do, either before you proceed or as soon as your finish here). if you hadn't thought of these things theologically before, I encourage you to start by coming into contact with theologians and people of faith that are rooted in different traditions, especially indigenous and liberation theology. we need each other to keep unpacking the beautiful character of God. let’s be the United body, learning from one another and, yes, bearing each other’s burdens.
with all that said, here is my assignment upon my study of Exodus 15:22-27
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While considering perspectives and passages to explore for this exercise, I found myself drawn to commentaries from the perspective of the African diaspora since it is both linked to my own cultural identity and rarely taught or incorporated in everyday biblical teachings. In fact, apart from a single lecture I attended years ago on Liberation Theology, I had never heard the Bible understood by or applied to the African or African American experience. For this reason, I headed straight for a story that carries great weight in the community: Exodus.
In its series of “remixes” of remembrance of the Exodus, The Africana Bible highlights Exodus 15:22-27 as a first glimpse into Israel’s new life after successfully escaping slavery in Egypt. As we know, this transition was far from smooth and immediately the Israelites express despair and frustration. This grumbling or murmuring from the Israelites is often seen as a weakness, a flaw of a people who were ungrateful or too easily forgetful of God’s great deliverance and faithfulness. Such is the case in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. In their overview of the passage, the authors include:
One would think that the mighty demonstration of God’s power at the crossing of the Red Sea would quiet all grumbling and bad-mouthing of God or his servant Moses, but not so! What most learn from history is that few learn anything from history! (452).
But what happens when we relate the Exodus and wilderness journey to the African American story? Does the seemingly fickle and forgetful attitude of the Israelites begin to make more sense? Page et. al present an important parallel and different angle for us to consider when interacting with the wilderness era:
The story of Exod. 15:22-27 is evocative for African Americans, whose first taste of freedom was a bitter one. The promise of forty acres and a mule was an empty one, and like the experience of Israel in the wilderness, newly freed slaves were arguably less safe than they were in slavery. (85).
The commentary continues to point out that in many ways, African Americans are still wondering when arrival into a prosperous Promised Land will truly happen, even centuries after the institution of slavery. This interpretation allows us as readers to have more grace and understanding for the Israelites and their grumbling. When considering the years following the end of the American Civil War, there were numerous ways that African Americans were caused to suffer under names different from slavery: the Black Codes that criminalized them for daily life, loopholes in the Thirteenth Amendment that permitted slave labor under the name of incarceration, the increasing use of lynching and other torture now that they were not one’s own property, etc. Given all these horrific developments, whose legacies still plague Black Americans today, it would be absurd to look back on African Americans of the post-Reconstruction Era and silence their groans and murmurs as ungratefulness or childish complaints (though people did and still do since “slavery was X years ago”).
Furthermore, regarding the motif of murmur, the authors of The Africana Bible assert that it means much more than just grumbling in Africana traditions. It is a communal lament that is deeply rooted in the expectation of response from God (86). It communicates a real relationship between God and a people, a bond that allows a community the right to expect both presence and provision from the One who promised FULL deliverance.
Both of these points completely reframe my understanding of Israel’s attitude. Though I was taught to see the grumbling of the Israelites in the wilderness as a cautionary tale or something for faithful, mindful followers to avoid (the position of this particular “traditional” Western commentary), I feel compelled to take a step back and think about the Israelites’ journey in a different way. I am compelled to sit in the horror they escaped, only to enter a whole new set of adversities and years of longsuffering. The constant calling out to YHWH to fully deliver them to the land he promised in tandem with freedom makes great sense in light of our own history of slavery and sustained oppression. Still, I can see that the story certainly reveals ways that we often forget to acknowledge God’s great mercies before calling out again in despair. We must take note of that and seek to remember God’s faithfulness and provision in the midst of new trials, certainly! We must also, however, have a healthy theology and basis for lament when full deliverance seems far off, recognizing that we have a deep relationship in which we can cry out for continual unfolding of God’s promises. The God of Israel, the same God revealed in the person of Jesus and his upside-down kingdom, holds space for our communal cries.
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I unwaveringly believe God cares, Jesus weeps, and the Spirit intercedes for our need for justice. Say their names. Let the Church rise!!
#blacklivesmatter #breonnataylor #kennethwalker #georgefloyd #ahmaudarbery