On His Own Head

 It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be free; but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. (Joshua 2:19)

The Lord will return his blood on his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. (I Kings 2:32)

then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. (II Chronicles 6:23)

His mischief will return upon his own head, and his violence will descend upon his own pate. (Psalm 7:16)

These weren’t the passages I intended for today, but events in Minneapolis, Portland, and probably other cities across the country call for a response. And to begin, people do have a right to peacefully protest against what they consider to be an injustice. But the right to peacefully protest does not include, as some people seem to think it does, the right to do whatever they want. What happened in Minneapolis should not have happened, and I am praying for both the woman’s family and the ICE agent and his family. The courts will have to sort it all out.

Some people might complain that Christians should stand for life and so condemn what the ICE agent did as inexcusable. That is for the courts to figure out and should be. They hold the same opinion when it comes to the death penalty but stand firmly against Christians standing for life when abortion is the issue.

But what I want to point out today is that Scripture repeats the idea that there are crimes that people commit for which their blood is clearly on their own heads (or hands.) It doesn’t matter which side of the political aisle you’re on. If you attack someone – whether or not they are an officer of the law a member of the military – you are guilty of assaulting yourself and/or committing suicide by cop. Equally, if a police officer or member of the military were to walk into a truly peaceful protest and start shooting at people, his blood would be on his head/hands.

Again, it is up to the courts to determine, but I will point out that Martin Luther King, Jr., when training his civil rights activists, pointed out that if they broke the law in their protest, they should expect to be punished, and should accept that punishment as part of their protest.  It’s the same principle. A protestor should not expect to be permitted to do anything they want without repercussions. If the things about which they are protesting actually matter to them, they should consider those repercussions to be an honor, not something unexpected or unjustified. Ultimately, it goes back to  something Jesus said,

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:22)

I know that we are admonished not to blame the victim, usually by people who blame their victims on a regular basis, but the fact remains that we all often do things that have consequences we don't like. Sometimes, the result is deeply tragic, but that doesn't mean someone else is criminal in their response.