Vox populi | rights

 … you can’t kill a dead man

In 1976, Ernesto Miranda was killed in a barroom brawl.  Having served 10 years in prison for the rape of an 18-year-old girl, he left this world, and justice was perceived to have been done.  On his person were business card-sized statements bearing what made him famous.  In Arizona, USA, in 1966 Miranda confessed to the crime of rape, but his confession was thrown out by the judge because it was determined his confession had been coerced without the defendant’s knowledge of his right to remain silent, and so the infamous Miranda rights became the rule of law (in the US) for the questioning of suspects, and probably something we could all recite from memory, “You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”

In 2001 a cadet entered my apartment seeking my thoughts in regards to a letter written to the Training Principal.  The letter was in response to a decision regarding a field placement which would take him a 20 km distance from the College for Officer Training.  His letter began:

“Dear Training Principal, We live in the democracy of Canada…”  I can’t remember what followed, except I offered, “That is the best letter I have ever heard.”  It never made it to the Principal thanks to the kindness of the other Cadet Zelinsky.

While it seems nutty, it only serves to highlight we have an obsession with our RIGHTS.  It is the first treatise we invoke when we have been wronged by others, and in many cases, the rights which were meant to offer freedom and stability to the citizens of our nation, in our obsession become the axe we yield not to protect, but to assert through litigation and compensation.

Nothing raises our ire more than having our rights trampled.  If you don’t believe me then tell me your response when you have waited in a long line up, and someone cuts in front of you having just arrived.  If we hold our rights as a high personal value then it only makes sense we would become agitated or angry when that value is stepped on.

The apostle Paul seems obsessed with rights, or at least with the abandonment of his rights. Writing to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor. 9), he notes:  I have the right to food, to family, to remuneration for work, but he does not assert these rights, instead he abandons them for the sake of the gospel.  Throughout his writing Paul speaks of the abandonment of himself for the sake of his mission, the proclamation of the gospel.  There were probably orators and sophists who were traveling through communities getting paid and getting wealthy for their efforts, but Paul would not be one of them.

Instead, he can declare I have not used my rights so that I may offer the gospel without any ties to my own needs or ambitions.  For the sake of others, I become a slave.  Eugene Peterson, in his book, The Jesus Way, addresses the servant songs from the book of Isaiah, and he makes the point that Isaiah’s servant, having abandoned his rights, lives his life for the sake of others.  He suffers for the sins of others.  Jesus serves us, and invites us to serve others in the same way.

In his sermon, Who Cares?, William Booth shares the vision he had of a tumultuous sea, and people drowning in the sea.  On the banks were Salvationists pulling people out of the water, and he shared how he saw some who had been saved now living a life of leisure and self-pleasure to his dismay. In the midst of the raging flood, however, he saw Jesus trying to save those who were drowning, and he was calling those on the banks to jump in and help him.

Yesterday, in Canada, rights were on the front burner for us once again, an example of how the rights of our brothers and sisters in this family we call humanity were stripped away as families were torn apart, culture destroyed, and subsequent generations coping with the fallout of Indian residential schooling, alcoholism, suicide and abuse.  These rights should never have been abandoned.  Yesterday, a dead man stood before his country, a man dead to his rights, and he entered into a relationship of accountability and transparency as he apologized for the sins committed by the government of Canada and our fellow Canadians on 150,000 of our people.  Dead to rights he asked for forgiveness.  Yesterday Jesus stood on the floor of the House of Commons, dressed in ceremonial headdress.  He declared, it is a “new dawn.” It is now possible, he said, to end the “racial nightmare”.  The invitation was given when he added the word, “together”.

Jesus is calling us to jump into the raging sea and join him in saving our communities from drowning to bring healing to our land.  If we value our life, safety and security above those drowning then we will never jump in, but if we give ourselves to Christ, and live in Him then we will jump in because you can’t kill a dead man.

Vox populi appears every Friday on theRubicon. Find past Vox populi posts and a bio of Capt. Rick Zelinsky here.

1 Comment to Vox populi | rights

1. Thankyou for this insightful article! I’m glad to learn about the healing that is occuring in Canada. We are on a similar journey in Australia. And thanks for this reminder that Jesus calls us to join him in abandoning our rights in order to save others.
Tim Watson on June 13th, 2008

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