Can you see Tyre?

Photo by Khoa Huỳnh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/gray-and-black-skateboard-165236/

My heart is broken. My eyes are red from crying. And I really don't have words. Tyre Nichols' life is over. His mama's life will never be the same. In some ways, our nation will never be the same...

Sometimes I think about choices I've made, wishing there was some way to undo the consequences of a rash decision in the heat of the moment. I'm guessing those former police officers are making similar wishes right now... but it's too late. They did not see Tyre Nichols for the precious person that he was; they did not treat him with the dignity of his full humanity. As a result, his life ended far too soon. 

Readers of this blog will remember my recent posts about seeing. The Na'vi greeting of "I see you," the way Christians can "see" others, even the God we worship, El Roi, the God who sees. 

This time, I want to focus on El Roi, the God who sees. God saw Tyre Nichols as he lay on the ground, his body absorbing the blows and abuse of angry men bent on controlling behavior whatever the cost. God saw Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith as their anger and frustration overtook their oath to serve and protect. God saw Tyre's mama as her heart broke into a million pieces, and the nightmare from which she can never awaken began. God saw.

Some may expect me to explain where God was in the midst of this horror. That is not the focus of this post. Others can expound on that topic. What I know is, God saw Tyre, even though those officers did not. God sees the former officers, though many in our country will not. God sees. A good question to consider is, what does God see? 

While we know God sees hearts and knows our minds, I think God sees us the way we see our children... He remembers knitting us together in our mothers' wombs. He remembers how many hairs we had on our heads the last time He counted. He remembers... He knows... He sees. 

I believe a big part of the problem we're having in our culture today is that far too many people are not seeing. We no longer recognize innate dignity. We no longer affirm intrinsic human value. We no longer see the person beyond their behavior. 

This is where recognizing and affirming human dignity gets messy. This is where it gets complicated, confusing, and uncomfortable... when we have to wrestle with whether perpetrators of horrors are truly "human"... 

That begs the question... what is a human? What makes human beings special? According to one expert, it is an "imaginary something" that sets human beings apart from those thought to be less than human (Less than Human, p. 263).

The Creation account in Genesis offers a different explanation. Genesis 1:26-27 says, 

Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them - ESV

God's image is that "imaginary something" that makes human beings special. It doesn't change because of a bad decision or even a string of them. It doesn't change because someone fails to meet expectations. 

Whatever Tyre Nichols did, in the eyes of those men, he became defined by his failure. Now their worst moments will define them, too. They have gone from men to monsters. And yet, they are still made in the image of God and still have inherent dignity and intrinsic value. They have not ceased to be human because of their decision to dehumanize someone else. 

The question then becomes, not just can you see Tyre, but will you seeTadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr., and Justin Smith? 

Please understand, I am not suggesting those men should not deal with the consequences of their choices. They should. But like I said, this is where things get messy... Until we can see what God sees, even behind the horrors, then I'm afraid we will continue to live in a culture where a person's value is no greater than their biggest failure. And that is a scary world indeed.