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| Was Jesus Whipped In America? |
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Millions of people around the world have seen the stunning and horrifying images of whipping and torture in the movie, The Passion of the Christ. It is deeply moving to see what Jesus was put through in Jersualem -- even though Pilate declared, "I find no fault in Him."
It is heart rending to see an innocent person viciously whipped. Jesus said: "What you do to the least of these, my brothers, you do unto me." Who are "the least" in American history? Wouldn't that be the slaves who had no legal rights and were bought and sold like animals? According to Jesus, what was done to the slaves, was done to the Christ. Jesus was whipped in America.
25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, `even' these least, ye did it unto me.
In 1848 Frederic Douglas, a runaway slave, said: "I am afraid you do not understand the awful character of the lashes given to slaves. A human being in a perfect state of nudity, tied hand and foot to a stake, and a strong man standing behind with a heavy whip, knotted at the end, each blow cutting into the flesh, and leaving the warm blood dripping to the feet." Jesus was whipped in America.
John Fee, a white Kentuckian, wrote: "Let me say, the torture of the body is terribly cruel, and yet it is the smallest part of the crime of human slavery. I have seen women tied to a tree or timber and whipped with cow-hides on their bare bodies until their shrieks would seem to rend the very heavens." Jesus was whipped in America.
Absalom Jones, a founder of the AME Church, said in the late 1700's: "Our God has seen masters, and mistresses, educated in fashionable life, sometimes take the instruments of torture into their own hands, and deaf to the cries and shrieks of their agonizing slaves, exceed even their overseers in cruelty." Jesus was whipped in America.
American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, wrote about slavery in 1845: "Woe to him who crushes the soul with chain and rod, and herds with lower natures, the awesome form of God." Jesus was whipped in America.
Francis Fredric, himself once given 107 lashes, wrote in 1863. "I saw a slave flogged (for running away) in the presence of all the slaves assembled from the neighboring plantations. His body was frightfully lacerated. I went to see him two or three weeks after the flogging. When they were anointing his back, his screams were awful. He died soon afterwards--a tall, fine young fellow, six feet high, in the prime of life, thus brutally murdered." Jesus was whipped in America.
Many want the story of the American Passion (of both black Americans and the original Americans) left untold. The violence we have done to Jesus--"to the least of these"--to those who have done us no wrong--is easier denied than faced. It is very humbling to realize the evil and the cruelty that was committed by our forefathers right here on American soil as they proclaimed "liberty and justice for all". Lord, have mercy on us. |
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| Indeed, glad I stopped by today! |
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| Brother , this is a great Blog! And I Thank you for posting It. I am going to share this with others if you don't mind! |
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| I have read some true stories from black "slaves"...Oh, I wish I could remember the name of a book I just read back a few months ago....it horrified me! Because these white folk were saying they were "God-fearing" folk, and meanwhile having slaves and treating these human beings worse than animals! I felt sick to my stomach from that story I read. I thought, 'Lord, how can ppl be so deceived?' Well, we still can be. Many "Christians" are anti-sementic and also black-hating, etc. Did you know that Martin Luther was anti-Jew? That really really shocked me! But I like to try to give the benefit of the doubt that he was at that time, deceived and hoped the Lord showed him the truth eventually. :( Yeah, this is sad. |
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Steve, I would like to forget about the period of slavery in America, since I did not engage in the practice (nor do I even think any of my direct ancestors did, they weren't rich enough). BUT... (seriously here) The point of remembering, for me, is not out of a need to memorialize any particular sin (porn is just as degrading, dehumanizing, and exploiting a sin as slavery ever was), but to highlight the susceptibility of even the so-called finest citizens among us to the deception of sin. Do any of us think we are any better?????
I am proud to call any person who loves Jesus Christ my brother or sister, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, whatever, and thus they are an even closer relative than my own brothers, born from the same physical parents as I, raised in the same house with me, yet who have sadly rejected Christ up to this day. God bless you Steve! |
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Even with the whipping of our ancestors, the whipping still goes on today in more subtle forms. Discrimination is still alive and well in America and now it has taken on the clothes of so called intelligent people. Hiring, housing, education, medical discrimination is still alive and well in these United States. Laws have been written yet they persist. It is not only for blacks, but hispanics, indians, etc. It is a shame when it happens in the house of GOD. He will not stand for it.
I embrace all ethnicity because GOD created all of us. He gave us varying skin colors for variety and I thank him for it. We all bleed red and have the same identical organs in the same identical places in our bodies, yet some people believe they are better. My heart hurts for their ignorance and my prayers constantly ask our Father to forgive them. My prayer is mostly for our young people who may one day look and see NO COLOR, only love as they did when they were young.
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Paula |
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February 11, 2008 at 11:17am |
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| Steve this was a great blog. It brings home what the Easter season is all about. The season in which we are entering now. |
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sally |
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February 11, 2008 at 4:00pm |
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great BLOG steve,hatred is still around for different races, i myself have seen it when i was holding hands with my daughter when she was young and a lady walked by us in a store and knocked my daughter flying ........WHY because she is BLACK and i am white.......when will hatred stop..........
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Deb |
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February 11, 2008 at 5:15pm |
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| In college, my first year, I had a black roommate. I knew no other people on campus, so I hung out with her a lot, and of course, since she was black, all the black people there "hung" out, because they obviously had one thing in common. So I hung out with all of her black friends. Talk about being in the minority! It was odd to be on that end of things. It gave me a new respect for them. I love all my brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter the color of their skin. I am greatly saddened by all the things that have gone on for black people or any minority. |
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| Thanks to all of you for the thoughtful responses to my blog today! |
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I sadly live in an area where racism is alive and well! It makes me sick. I did not raise my children this way...and I thank the Lord that they do not follow this horrid heartsickness! I have had my fill of the nasty comments made at others expense! I am sick of it! I realize that these ignorant people need forgiveness from The Lord...just like all of us. How do you talk to someone that thinks they are so right? How do you talk to someone with this level of hate?!! Someone actually told me that they wished a tornado would come and blow the people across the road away! I answered by saying "They have children, families, hopes and dreams just like you!" May God help me to also pray for these hate-filled people! It is so hard to see and experience this level of ignorance and hate.
Great Blog!
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| Forgiven: Unfortunately racism still exists, even among Christians. All we can do is love everybody, even the people who said those awful things about the people across the street from you. Jesus said we are to love our enemies. We can also demonstrate love across racial and economic lines as a witness to God's power in our lives. |
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| Mike: Forgetting about slavery may not be the best way to go. We alive today had nothing to do with the Revolutionary War, but people remember it every year, so why forget slavery?. If we forget the evil in our past, we leave ourselves open to repeat it. For me it is very humbling to realize what terrible things our country did in the past. It gives us a more honest evaluation of our nation. There is greatness in American history but there is also terror and evil. If we choose to celebrate the greatness shouldn't we be fair and also be sorry for the evil? |
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Gene |
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February 14, 2008 at 4:01pm |
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Steve, I guess I had an attitude like what Mike was writing about. Since my parents immigrated (legally, if anyone cares) to this country, I have no personal connection - direct or ancestral - to slavery in the US. And yet, that isn't the issue at all. I am guilty of sin. And because I'm guilty of sin, I have laid the lash to my saviour's back.
My parents grew up as children in Germany during the war. My mother was strafed by an American pilot at age 14. Why does a fighter pilot see the need to do that to a teenage girl?! My father's house was bombed. They lived in an attic room with two other families. And yet, my skin is white so I am assumed to have a certain 'background."
I'm certain that I had a cruel ancestor or two; and, this isn't about blame or innocence. The truth as you noted is that we are all guilty. guilty of crucifying The King. What more heinous thing can you imagine? |
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| And Gene, it isn't just about what our direct ancestors did, it is what our nation did. |
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Gene |
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February 15, 2008 at 11:13am |
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True! And it becomes a national burden. I sometimes have a hard time getting that attached to the nation however. Given the relatively short time that our family has been in this country, the wrongs it has imposed on my parents (to this day) and my citizenship in a higher kingdom, it's tough to grasp that for me at times. "My" history spans two continents. This, however, is no less important. I, by no means, intended to belittle the issue; only mention the fact that it is difficult for some (including me) to identify with the past when it was so distant - both chronologically and geographically.
Racism is wrong in all manner of application. I pray that we can someday get past it all. |
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| Gene: The story of individual human beings and their suffering, however, is something that all people can identify with. |
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