Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch and in today's episode we're asking the question, can we stop murder before it happens? This is prompted by a really interesting article I read on CNN for recently about a program in Baltimore called Safe Streets. Now what Safe Streets does is it takes what they call credible messengers, people with relational influence in a community and basically hires them to become a violence interrupter. Basically their job is to get to know people, to get to know what's happening in the community and get to those experiencing trauma or, struggling with mental health or poverty, kind of the things that tend to lead to violence and come alongside that person and help them before it gets to that point. Now that can be everything from helping someone struggling with mental health to get help to helping someone struggling with poverty to get the resources they need. It can also be going to someone whose family member experiences violence and helping them navigate that before they respond in violence to themselves. In fact, the article focused on on a lady named Rochelle Johnson, who lost her 19 year old son to gun violence in 2013, has become a credible messenger, helping families like hers that experience violence to not perpetuate the cycle. And you might think, well, that program sounds nice, but does it actually work? And the answer is yes. Since 2023, Baltimore has seen a 50% drop in homicide and just year over year, 2024 to 2025, a 30% drop. And civic leaders in Baltimore are citing programs like Safe Streets and the Credible Messenger Violence Interruption Program as one of the key reasons why violence is down. When I read this article, I wasn't just happy that people are getting murdered less in Baltimore and they're being helped. I couldn't help but think that maybe this is exactly what Jesus had in mind in Matthew chapter 5 when he says to his followers, you are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. He calls in that same passage Christian salt and light, the preservative and the clarifying force in the world. Now, oftentimes, as evangelicals, when we read that passage, we think what Jesus is talking about is sharing the gospel, telling someone that they can be forgiven of their sins in Jesus. And undoubtedly, he is talking about that. But not just that. Salt back then was used as a preservative. It was designed to diminish decay, to keep people alive by eating Fresh food instead of spoiled food. Light was about safety. But when it was dark, you had to worry about animals or thieves or robbers. But light meant that you didn't have to worry. You could see those things coming, and so you were safer. Jesus is saying that in addition to preaching the gospel, Christians are redemptive agents in the world, pushing back against decay and danger wherever we find it. What programs like Safe Streets are showing us is that if we take seriously neighbor love, if we take seriously the question of, hey, how do we solve the problem? For example, a violent crime, what are the things causing it? How would we diminish those? How would we have help people? We can actually make a difference. See, the problem is, I think you and I read the words of Jesus and we say, whoever he's talking about, he must not be talking about me, because what can I do to end whatever problem I'm, reading about in the news? What can I do to effect change? But Jesus says, hold on a second. You are the salt and light of the world. You are the ones that I have called and commissioned to to make a difference. Like, what Jesus is saying is that when we become a Christian, the spirit of God is living in us and we become capable of shifting the world. I also think he's saying that the state of the world is in some ways our responsibility. After all, if the salt and light don't show up to do the job they're supposed to do, what do you get? You get decay and darkness. But how many of us have kind of sat in our living room shaking our fists at the world, saying, oh, this world is so full of decay and darkness. But Jesus is saying, leave your house and do something about it. Remember that Jesus says in Revelation 21, behold, listen to the verb tense. Here I am making all things new. Restoration, redemption, healing. Those are waiting for us in heaven. But Jesus says they're available to us now. So would you join me in praying and asking God, God, where do you want me to. To be salt and light? What problem do you want me to affect? Change? I bet in 2013, Rochelle Johnson had no idea that she was going to be part of decreasing the homicide rate in Baltimore by 50% over the next decade? It might just be that God's going to blow your mind with what he's going to use you to do in the next decade. Salt and light. That's the job description. It's time for you and I to start showing up to work. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it. Please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!