Dear Zubeidat Tsarnaeva,
Recently a Judge Jeanine Pirro’s addressed your personally HERE.
Rather than address Judge Jeanine Pirro’s remarks directly - as I originally wanted to,
I offer my own response to you.
I love you.
I don’t really know who you are. Prior to the bombing, I had no idea that you
even existed. Now you are making
headlines on a daily basis. What I catch
about you in the news is little and not enough to reveal who you are as a
person. Certainly I have seen clips and
read statements recently made by you, but that is too little to make a judgment
about a person. Nor am I to make a judgment
other than this: you have un-surpassable worth.
This doesn’t come from me, however, but from God; from Jesus.
Now, being a Christian, I understand that you and I differ
on certain aspects regarding Jesus. I’m
not going to discuss those here.
Rather, I offer you the love and kindness that Jesus
commands of his followers.
Sadly, this is not always as easy command to follow. More often than not, we followers of Christ
react as Judge Jeanine Pirro reacted. I do it. We all do
it.
But that doesn’t make it right – and in fact, it’s not if we
are to take Jesus at his word. Which I
try to do as a follower of Him.
I understand the anger that is directed at your family,
however, I cannot abide by it or condone it.
Jesus said to love our enemies. This is non-negotiable. He gave no exceptions. Why?
Because in reality, no one is our “enemy.” I cannot view you as an enemy, if I also view
you as you really are: a child of God.
If God doesn’t see you as an enemy, than neither can I.
I cannot begin to imagine what those directly affected by
the bombings in Boston
are feeling or going through. I won’t
pretend to either. Nor will I speak upon
their behalf.
As well, I cannot begin to imagine what you are going
through, experiencing or feeling. I
won’t pretend to. Nor will I try to put
words in your mouth.
I only offer you what I can: my love and prayers.
See, while there are times when I find it easier to hate
people that harm and do me wrong, I know to do so is itself wrong, and against
what Jesus taught.
And I either take Jesus as his word in EVERYTHING, or I
don’t at all. Picking and choosing is
not an option.
Often hate and anger is the easier route – and for the
moment it feels right and justified. But
it’s not. It never is.
Love is.
As followers of Christ we are commanded to do that, in all
cases, at all times, to all people – no exceptions.
We are to love, because he first loved us and because He loves you. And if you are worthy of Jesus’ love, who am I to believe that my love is too great for you?
And while what your sons have allegedly done is an act of
evil, to make the judgment OF your sons that they too are evil, is not for us
to make.
Only God alone can and will judge.
For us to judge and make judgments is to put ourselves above
God. Something, I’m sure you would
agree, we should not do.
I know little of your sons, but they too are offered my love
and prayers. Yes, if found to have
perpetrated the bombing, your surviving son should be held responsible and
accept what consequences there are to follow.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t or shouldn’t be loved.
We must not forget we live in a fallen world.
You, I, all of us created this world and do so on a daily
basis.
Your sons may have carried out the act of the bombing, but
we are all responsible for creating the atmosphere in which it was allowed to
happen. We do this when we choose hate over love, even in small ways. Such as Judge Jeanine Pirro’s video.
Sadly it sometimes takes these bigger tragedies to see that
we are still in error and are still fallen…but we ALL are fallen. All of us are sinners and fall short of the
Glory of God.
None of us are free from judgment outside the grace of God
that has been given to us.
I’m no better than your sons, or you, or anyone. We do not posses the correct eyes, knowledge,
and wisdom to determine who is “better” or “worse” or “deserving.” That is left for God and God alone.
When we start to believe we can determine value and worth,
we will find any number of reasons to take it away.
While I understand the want and desire of Judge Jeanine Pirro to make the
statements she did. It’s statements such
as she made that contribute the fallen nature of the world. Her anger and (dare I say) hate that she put
forth is NOT what the world needs.
She may not care what the world thinks of America, but
she should care about the world. She
should want to foster love and kindness and true justice (not just seeking
punishment for wrongful actions). But the
words she used do just the opposite.
No, neither Boston,
nor the world, needed what she said.
Though I completely understand why she said what she did. She’s not evil for doing it, just human and
fallen like we all are.
But anger doesn’t build, doesn’t heal, doesn’t create; it
only destroys and hurts.
What does do all of that and more is love.
And I don’t write this from some high and lofty,
self-righteous position. I am as guilty
as anyone of fostering more anger than love at times. I may not have murdered anyone physically,
but I have – as Jesus has said – murdered people in my heart. I may not have placed bombs of steel and
metal, but I have placed bombs of anger and hate and hurt. And to this day, I don’t always love as I
should. Sadly, never on this earth will
I do so either.
But I can, we can, always love MORE. And choose love more
often.
And it is at times exactly like these we see today that we
need to choose love.
Perhaps we don’t choose to love as often as we should
because we believe it to be weak, or a sign of weakness. But that is not true.
Love takes a strength that far surpasses what anger
requires. As it is far easier to
destroy, than to build.
Anger is easy and fruitless.
Love is at times tough, but fruitful.
And despite what you have said, may say, or will say, that
is exactly what I offer you: love. And
pray for you too, to find the peace and love that Jesus offers all of us. God has placed a value on you that no one can
take away and if I am a true follower of Jesus I know this to be true and honor
it.
With Peace and Love,
Chris
