In
my previous blog Blood In; Blood Out we heard about an interracial youth
(Miklo) of Caucasian and Latino decent who identified himself as Chicano. He joined the Vatos Locos street gang in
South Central L.A. during the early 70s and was desperate to gain acceptance
from his peers and family. We also
learned some scientific information about blood: its purpose, average amount in
a human body, etc.
Let’s
continue by bringing closure to Miklo’s decision about La Una. If you will recall, he was offered a
conditional membership in La Una, the San Quentin Chicano gang, if he agreed to
shed the blood of a high ranking Aryan Brotherhood member. He would have one shot to carry out the hit but
if he failed he was well aware he would be taken out. Not taken out of the room or out to the
woodshed, they meant they would kill Miklo if he failed the assignment. I know there are fraternity initiations with
conditions, but that is not this. La Una
had no grace and a low tolerance for mistakes.
The upside (if you can call it that) is Miklo didn’t have to come up
with a plan of action, La Una took care of all of the details, explained them
to him and ensured he had the appropriate weapon. All he had to do was show up and carry out
the plan.
Can
you imagine the thoughts that must have been going through Miklo’s head after
he made that commitment? I would imagine
he might have done what I do sometimes when I feel like I might have committed
myself to something without fully weighing the options – like what did I just
commit myself to? How am I gonna pull
this off? Can I pull it off? OMG, etc.
all of which can easily lead to self-doubt.
Generally I caution against self-doubt but this is definitely a time
when I would have made an exception. I
would also imagine that during the time that led up to the day of the hit, he
was filled with anxiety and “what-if” scenarios. Shedding the blood of another human being is
a big big deal. This was no small fete, Miklo was planning to take the life of
a “made man” and there were consequences, not just the guilt associated with
the act but torturous retaliation by an Aryan Brotherhood member if he was ever
caught or “served up”.
How
does one justify taking another man’s life in order to be accepted by others? Now
before you jump all over that statement let me clarify it. The target wasn’t an innocent victim in the true
sense of the word because he was a convicted felon serving time; a sinner who’s
penalty is death according to Romans
6:23(NLT) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
However, he was innocent in the sense that he had done nothing to Miklo
to deserve death, and the wages or payment for sin is only to be paid by God,
not other human beings. I realize the penitentiary has a completely different
set of survival rules, some I am ignorant of and/or don’t understand but the
bottom line was Miklo’s need for acceptance and protection within the La Una
Familia.
This
is a true story of the life of Jimmy Santiago Baca but now I want to change the
focus to another true story about a man whose blood was shed innocently by the
hands of others. While Miklo, the Aryan
Brotherhood made man and the character I am about to tell you about all come
from different walks of life, the fact remains that innocent blood was shed as
a result of a plot in both cases. Here’s
a high level view of the story:
There
was a gang of little OGs (original gods-men) who were jealous of a young
teacher, Jesus, who was radical in his thinking, approach, beliefs and
lifestyle. He refused to join their gang
and conform to their traditional unethical way of thinking; challenged their
system in every way imaginable, exposed their corruption and began to divide
their followers. Needless to say the
little OGs were not happy campers. They
wanted Jesus to go along to get along like everyone else without questioning
their methods because they were after all little OGs who believed no one had
the right to doubt anything they said.
This gang of self-righteous, prideful men who viewed themselves superior
to others and trusted their rules more than they did the rule maker. They would: lie, steal, cheat and kill for
power which is similar to the characteristics of the La Una Familia.
Jesus,
who gained more popularity seemingly overnight and a following larger than any
of the little o.g.s. could ever imagine, was well aware of their plans. He taught his crew to stay alert and every
cotton pickin’ time the little o.g.s. tried to set Jesus up, he always gave
them the slip not because he was scared, but because it wasn’t time yet. Jesus was miraculously smooth in everything
he did, especially baffling the little o.g.s. but each time he did so their
anger increased and enraged them. Well
not all of them because some of them secretly wanted to defect to The Other
Side but they had spaghetti spines so they stayed put. He used every situation that arose as
teachable moments for his carnals (brothers closer than brothers) because he
wanted to duplicate himself in them so their following could grow
exponentially.
Jesus
wasn’t lucky, he was intentional. You
see he volunteered for this assignment and knew in advance everything that was
going to take place so nothing caught him off guard. He knew who would betray him, deny him, when and
that he would be offered as a sacrifice for the cause of grace and
redemption. The little o.g.s. didn’t
know it but they were pawns in a much bigger plan, one which included the
assignment that Jesus volunteered for.
While it is not my intention to compare Miklo to Jesus, there are some
similarities. Miklo had qualities that
no one else had affording him the opportunity to go places others couldn’t; so
did Jesus. Miklo looked just like his
father; so did Jesus; Miklo wanted acceptance of his familia, friends and
peers; so did Jesus. Miklo (at times) felt
isolated, misunderstood, abandoned; so did Jesus; Miklo was willing to die for
a cause; so was Jesus, but there’s a twist.
Earlier
I mentioned that Jesus was on assignment by his Father, the original OG (One
God) to save his people because the existing Law in place was not designed to
be permanent and now the time had come for change. The OG performed an extensive search for just
the perfect person and couldn’t find one so Jesus eagerly volunteered (just as
Miklo had done). The OG created the
perfect plan and provided all of the resources; all Jesus had to do was carry
out the plan (of salvation). Everything
Jesus experienced well over 2000 years ago was designed so that he could
ultimately be the blood sacrifice required.
Jesus
sewed blood into the earth in order
for his blood to get us out of
bondage. The bondage of sin and the
affects that sin had/has over our lives.
Blood was required under the Old Testament Law and it was required under
the New Testament of grace except it was required of one who was perfect and
without sin. What is sin? It is breaking God’s law, his rules. What is a sinner? A person that habitually, intentionally
breaks God’s law. The blood, the
precious blood of Jesus was required so that we could be forgiven and live
abundantly according to John 10:10 (The
thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have
life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest).
Hebrews 10:18
(NLT): And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more
sacrifices. Jesus paid it all, ONCE.
Romans 9:22-27
(NLT): In fact, according to the law of
Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of
blood, there is no forgiveness. That is
why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven,
had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had
to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals. For Christ
did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of
the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God
on our behalf. And he did not enter
heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who
enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that
had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since
the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the
age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. And just as each person is destined to die
once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all
time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again,
not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly
waiting for him.
Because
of his undeserving Favor
Tania
Not Tanya
.
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