Don't all lives matter?  This is a common retort to the idea that "Black Lives Matter."  Of course al, lives matter.  But this misses the point.  As one of the speakers I heard at a rally I attended in my community last weekend, drawing from Jesus' parable about the lost sheep (Luke 15) pointed out, we should be much more worried about the sheep that is left out than those that are in the fold.  In other words, it is not that one life is more important than another, but rather that it is on those lives that suffer from disenfranchisement and marginalization we should focus.  The "haves" already "have"; it is the "haves not" that need help.

     To say that "all lives matters" is disingenuous.  It overlooks that in the eyes of God, yes, all human beings are equally valuable, but that, unfortunately, some of these equally valuable human beings have systematically downgraded, even rejected, the value and worth of their fellow humans beings, beings whom God loves as fervently as they.

     As America continues to deal with its racism, the racism which, one commentator suggested, is its "original sin," its people should not be retorting as much as they should be repenting.  They should not be offended; they should rather be humble, humble before the still very much present effects of their ancestors' legacy of centuries ago.  God does not look to the proud to change the world.  He looks to those who, as Jesus pointed out in the opening lines of the Sermon on the Mount, are poor and lowly in spirit, who mourn over their sins, and who are submit to the humility, the humility of being human in a world they did not make.