It’s a question as old as we humans have been on the earth: how to deal with persons who have killed others, sometimes in a horrific manner. Hebrew Scripture laid out rules that created a structure for societal punishment or retribution against those who had murdered others, moving us beyond acts of unrestrained vengeance.
Yesterday outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsome commuted the sentences of the 548 inmates on death row to life without parole. The number is staggering. Even states like Florida and Texas do not have such death row numbers, but they have executed persons as recently as yesterday, with more scheduled this month.
We have moved beyond public hangings and beheadings but not beyond our desire to somehow “have justice,” as if justice is served by the state killing a killer. We use all kinds of “reasons” to support execution, like it’s a deterrent to crime even though we really know that executions satisfy our desire for retribution. Why else would the state have family members of murder victims watch their killers die?
Prayer for the Day
Listening to old stories, we know what Jesus said,
But down deep, we chafe at words of forgiveness;
Telling ourselves that we need to have ultimate punishments,
We come up with ways to make them more invisible.
Protect us, O God, from our desires for vengeance,
So often masked as doing justice for the victims.
In the name of the One who holds us to account,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The people sentenced to death in California caused indescribable suffering to their victims, families, communities, and our state as a whole. The harm they inflicted persists across generations. Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as Governor, I have concluded that the state cannot morally kill them. I do, however, pray that this action will finally separate the memories of the victims of those crimes from the fate of those who harmed them. We can now let those offenders die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims.
Open letter to the people o California, Gavin Newsome, November 5, 2026
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them: “Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” …and when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders;
John 8: 7-8