THE ROSA PARKS MYSTERY: "Happenstance or The Hand of God?"

Greetings, Beloved. What if Black American History was prophesied in the Holy Scriptures, and The Hand of God was moving in our Quest of Freedom? I once asked the Reverend Dr. Ervin Smith why Black American clergy do not preach, or teach, about the Hand of God moving with Black America in history. Dr. Smith thought about it for a moment then said:

"Horace, I think it's because of the question of theodicy."

We know that theodicy pertains to the vindication of God's goodness and providence in the view of the existence of evil in this world, and in our experience. I have pondered Dr. Smith's response for many years, trying to make sense of the question of theodicy in the light of a mysterious phenomenon that the Lord revealed to me concerning Mrs. Rosa Parks, the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

Above: Mother Rosa Parks (1913-2005)

On Thursday, December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks, a brave,?42-year-old African-American seamstress, and Civil Rights Activist, refused to relinquish her seat near the front of a segregated public bus to a White Man, and move to the Negro section in the back, as was the law and the custom of the Jim Crow South. In those days, we called ourselves American Negroes. When the bus driver told Mrs. Parks to get up and give her seat to the White Man, she ignored him and remained in her seat.?The bus driver called the police to have her removed.?Mrs. Parks later recalled that when the police officer arrived, she looked up at him and asked:?“Why do you push us around?”

“I do not know,” he said, “But, you are under arrest.”?

Above: It is commonly believed that this is a photo of Mrs. Rosa Parks being booked into the police station on December 1, 1955, when she refused to relinquish her seat to a White man. However, it is actually a photo of Mrs. Rosa Parks being fingerprinted by Deputy Sheriff D. H. Lackey in Montgomery, Alabama, on Feb. 22, 1956, when she and others were arrested for boycotting.

The racist police officer then took Mrs. Parks away to the police station to be booked.?Rosa Parks’ act of courage set off the Montgomery Bus Boycott. For 381 days, from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, the People walked and car-pooled until they broke the bus company financially and forced the bus company to change its dehumanizing policies and behavior toward their Community. This courageous move set off a wave of Civil Rights protests that changed the course of American History and ignited a chain reaction of Civil Rights and Human Rights activism that is reverberating around the World to this very day. Was this event that occurred on?Thursday, December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Happenstance or was it The Hand of God??What if this monumental, watershed event in Black American, (and World) history was foreordained by The Powers of Heaven and Prophesied in The Holy Bible? Consider, if you will, the following Mystery.

Above: Rosa Parks' "mugshot" on February 22, 1956, with her '7053' arrest card.

The number on Mrs. Rosa Parks' arrest card is '7053.' Interestingly, the 7,053rd verse of the Old Testament, and of The Holy Bible, reads in part:

And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered.

Judges 19.28 (KJV)

Does this Scripture, in part, prefigure the verbal exchange that took place between the racist White bus driver and Mrs. Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955? Judges 19.28 is the 543rd consecutive verse of the Book of Judges.?The sum of the numbers 1928 + 543 = 2471.?The Strong’s New Testament Greek Lexicon entry for #2471 is the Koine Greek word ?σ?τη? (pronounced: ee-sot’-ace). The definitions of ?σ?τη? are:?

I. equality??

II. equity, fairness, what is equitable.?

Was it not equality, equity, and fairness, that Mrs. Rosa Parks took a stand for by remaining in her seat on that fortuitous day of Thursday, December 1, 1955? Was it not equality, equity, and fairness, that the Black Community of Montgomery, Alabama was fighting for in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956? Many of us fancy ourselves to be theologically and intellectually savvy when we talk about how Mrs.?Parks and E. D. Nixon, the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, planned her famous December 1, 1955 bus protest, as part of a strategy to challenge the system of Jim Crow segregation on Public Transportation in the Courts, and how the Black American clergy led the most important movement of the 20th century.?But how often, and in what ways, have we actually ever given God the Glory for that pivotal moment that changed the course of American History, and of World History itself?

Above: Union leader E. D. Nixon, President of the Montgomery, Alabama NAACP, escorts Mrs. Rosa Parks into a courtroom.

Is it easier, or more comfortable, for us today to think of what happened on December 1, 1955, as simply part of a strategic political plan that was executed at just the right time in history than it is for us to think of it as Divine Intervention? as part of God's Divine Plan for us that was foreordained and foretold in The Holy Scriptures? What do Black American clergy need to see that will inspire them to preach and teach about the intervention of God in our History? If Black American clergy avoid giving God the Glory for our historical victories within the liturgy of our church worship because of the question of theodicy, then does that not mean that the clergy themselves are wanting in faith? How can the People believe that God is with us in our Quest of Freedom if the body of clergy does not believe? Imagine how the thought, speech, and behavior of Black Americans would be transformed if the People were convinced that God is on our people's side, not symbolically but literally? Of course, a great responsibility would come with such a realization. Thoughts?

? 2022 by Horace Columbus Neal II