“Stop being nice. Jesus raised hell!”: OK Death Row Inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn on John 2:13-17
Jesus tossed all those rich folks out of the temple because they were hustling poor folk. That shit was gangster. Flipping over tables. Using a whip to drive all those folks out. Made out of chords?!?! Those folks didn’t walk out of there. They ran. Didn’t they? Jesus wasn’t interested in any dialogue. He wanted them out. He wanted them out now. Jesus threw out the money changers. He didn’t toss them gently aside. In the end, people believed because Jesus was a badass.
Don’t try to turn Jesus into a damn hippie. Jesus was tough. Jesus took on injustice. Jesus didn’t give them no damn flowers. Jesus threw them out.
Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything. Jesus was ready to die to do the right thing. If you want to fight for justice, sometimes your life is going to be necessary. Because people are definitely going to want to kill you. People get mad when you start messing with their money. Jesus didn’t care. Justice was more important than money. The fight for justice is eternal…money will rot away.
The most effective people in advocacy are the ones who act like Jesus did. They put their bodies into the conversation. They put their health into the conversation. They put their well-being into the conversation. Advocacy without sacrifice isn’t advocacy…it’s just talk.
Jesus was at war. Sometimes these advocates want to all be friends with the powers that be in the system. I ain’t got no reason to be friends. We’re at war. Those who want to kill me are my enemies. How could they not be? My very life is on the line.
I had one dumbass lawyer tell me, “After you’re executed…I still got to work with these people.” I ran from that cat as quickly as possible. Though it took me a minute, I got away from him. I knew he wasn’t going to do anything but get me killed. I needed some folks to help me who weren’t afraid to overturn some tables. If you are friends with somebody who wants to kill me…then you clearly aren’t my friend.
Sometimes you’ve got to tear things up. Sometimes you have to cause a ruckus. Sometimes you have to cause an uproar. That’s the nature of the message of Jesus.
Stop being nice. Jesus raised hell!
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