10/10/2026
Justice Does Not Bless Death
The Rev. Dr. Matthew L Sauer
Beloved Community,
I have stood with hundreds of families at the time of death. I have accompanied people through those sacred, painful moments, including people in the criminal justice system. I have learned that death is always more than the cessation of respiration. A life ends. Families grieve. Communities are changed. And we are left to reckon with what it means for a human life to be gone.
Death happens. Violent death happens. It is always tragic. Opposing the death penalty does not erase the suffering of victims or their families. It does not excuse the terrible things human beings do to one another. Justice matters. Accountability matters. But I believe governments entrusted with upholding justice should not become the authors of death. Governments should not leave a trail of death in the name of justice. Justice never blessed death.
That is why I am troubled by the announcement that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth intends to livestream the December 3 ex*****on of Nidal Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood. The victims and their families deserve to be remembered, their suffering honored, and their lives held sacred. But what are we becoming when the government invites us to watch another human being die? What does it teach us when death becomes a demonstration of power?
In Tennessee, Christa Pike recently survived an ex*****on attempt after receiving two doses of lethal injection drugs. Her survival and the questions surrounding her treatment force us to confront the suffering the state can inflict even when it claims to be administering justice. Her conviction for murder is not erased by what happened. Neither is the state's responsibility for what happened to her.
As Christians, we look to the cross. The empire executed Jesus, believing death could settle the matter. But the cross is not God's endorsement of the power to kill. It is the place where God's love confronts human violence and declares that death will not have the final word.
I am a part of the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); they have long opposed capital punishment. The PC(USA) calls us to “seek the redemption of evildoers and not their death.” Jesus teaches us, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
Faith calls us to do more than shake our heads and move on. It calls us to resist the normalization of state killing, to stand with victims and their families, to demand accountability, and to work for a justice that protects life without taking life.
I know death is real. I know violence is real. And I believe our calling is to resist the forces that multiply death, not give them our blessing. Justice does not bless death!
We follow the One who faced the violence of empire and answered it with love. May we have the courage to do the same. May justice be our work, mercy our witness, and hope our resistance.
In faith and solidarity,
Pastor Matt
