Who knew that among the numerous horrific casteist and racist killings the words of George Floyd “I can’t breathe” would unleash the momentum to challenge the chains that enslave mind and body. His last words brought solidarity among people of all colour ethnicity and economic backgrounds on the biblical platform of common humanity, to demand that those whom God has created equal must be treated equally by the powers that be.
The slavery of the mind to question and the fear of brutal power of the dominant caste and race is now broken as the Holy Spirit of God has breathed afresh to break the chains because the kingdom of God has come.
The enslaved mind is powerless to express its thoughts. They know that should they voice their honest feelings; they will risk everything. They prefer to remain silent so that they can provide food for their children and wife. The caste and race oppression has silenced the majority of people created in God’s image to the darkness of bondage. Didn’t Jesus say, “Man shall not live by bread alone?”
Be it women, children or the poor, Jesus speaks comforting words to them: your feeble voice I will hear, for I have come to heal. The demonic powerful cannot stop or stay me. “I have come so that you may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). And I will give you a new humanity born of the Spirit by my grace and truth. You will no longer be a victim but a victor “for greater is he who is in you than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). This truth is demonstrated in Jesus’s healing of the blind beggar named Bartimaeus.
When Bartimaeus realised Jesus was passing by, he cried aloud, in spite of the thronging crowds who hushed him. Jesus heard his voice and reached out to him saying “Go, your faith has made you well,” Have you heard Jesus’ voice and experienced your transforming moment?