By: Pastor Troy L. Campbell
Something For Sunday
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019 a young man innocently and inadvertently sent SHOCKWAVES around the world while simultaneously sparking an international conversation about “forgiveness.” Brandt Jean, a young black man, had the opportunity to address his brother’s killer Amber Guyger—who happened to be a white woman/former police officer—at her sentencing hearing.
With all of the tension, overt bigotry, ethnic injustice, and inequality on display in America today, Brandt Jean would have easily been JUSTIFIED if he went ham on the woman, giving her a piece of his mind from a place of pure and absolute rage. The stage was set! He was supposed to go off! He was supposed to tell her that he hopes the rest of her life is as miserable as she made his by killing his brother and mentor. This was a huge opportunity not only to express his anger, frustration and pain toward her but also to every white person who disregards and devalues the lives of black people in America.
Instead, he spoke calmly, kindly, and he FORGAVE her. Forgave her? Wait a minute. Forgave her? Yes, he forgave her and he didn’t stop there. He told her he wished the best for her and he didn’t stop there. He asked the judge if he could give her a hug. Even the judge was stunned.
Judge Tammy Kemp had to pause and consider what he just asked her, then granted him his request. When Brandt placed his arms around Guyger to hug her, something happened. She felt the merciful and loving grace of God flowing through another human being during one of the lowest points of her life from a place she never imagined it would or could come from. People couldn’t believe what they were seeing and I’m sure she couldn’t believe what she was experiencing.
The atmosphere SHIFTED! Hate was suffocated, anger was put to shame and revenge snuck out the back door coward it is. In that moment NOTHING was stronger than the genuine forgiveness and compassion demonstrated by that young man. He didn’t break the ice—he melted the “iceberg.” Everybody in that courtroom was caught off guard by his unexpected but appropriate “otherworldly” response to this horrendously traumatic situation. His behavior caused a chain reaction of unexpected and “otherworldly” behavior to continue happening in the courtroom that day.
Two people who should have been enemies became something else in that moment and the whole world saw it. It reminds me so much about what the death of Jesus Christ means to me (and you). I used to be His enemy but He made a conscious decision to love me (and you) when I (we) was at the lowest point of my life.
When the Spirit of the Lord is present in such a compassionate and supernatural way, the atmosphere has to shift in acknowledgement of a higher heavenly principle at work. In simple terms, the power of love found a vehicle to flow through for a few unrestricted moments and it rendered everything else powerless against its influence. The judge couldn’t withstand the power of the shift in the atmosphere either. She went so far as giving Guyger, who was convicted of murder, a Bible and a verse to meditate upon. That ain’t normal behavior!!!
Know why it happened? It happened because Brandt Jean was courageous enough to simply do what Jesus challenges us to do in what has become titled as the Lord’s Prayer, which is to forgive others so we can be forgiven: Forgive us our debts (sins) as we forgive our debtors (those who sin against us) (Matthew 6:12).The presence of pure forgiveness shifts atmospheres, transcends culture, and overrides learned and expected behaviors. Forgiveness is one of the most underused weapons of modern day spiritual warfare. I encourage you to use it more often you’ll be glad you did. My name is Pastor Troy L. Campbell and I approve this message.
