Some time ago, at a school assembly, I challenged our students to “Call It Out.”

The reason was simple. It had become apparent that some students were witnessing poor behaviour among their peers but were choosing not to say anything. I found this concerning—not because I expected students to police one another, but because silence can sometimes allow behaviour that is harmful, unfair or inconsistent with the values we hold dear to continue.

I began to wonder why.

Were students reluctant to speak because they did not trust adults to respond appropriately? Were they worried about becoming the target of retaliation? Perhaps they simply did not know what to do when they saw something that was wrong. These are important questions for us as a school community.

How do we empower young people to speak up when something is wrong? How do we teach them to have the courage to “call it out” while also ensuring that they do so with compassion, wisdom and respect? 

As Christians, we have a remarkable example before us.  

Jesus.

Jesus was not afraid to challenge behaviour and systems that were unjust, exploitative or harmful to others. From the very beginning, his coming was announced as something that would turn the expectations of the world upside down. Mary proclaimed:

“He has brought down rulers from their thronesand lifted up the lowly;he has filled the hungry with good things,and sent the rich away empty.”Luke 1:52–53

Jesus consistently stood alongside those who were overlooked, excluded or treated unfairly. He challenged those who used religious authority for their own benefit. He confronted hypocrisy. He welcomed people whom others rejected. He reminded his followers that greatness was not found in power or status, but in serving others.

Perhaps most famously, Jesus confronted the misuse of the Temple. He overturned the tables of those who had turned a place of worship into a marketplace and declared:

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”Mark 11:17

Jesus was prepared to speak and act when people were being exploited or excluded.

But there is an important distinction here...

Jesus did not teach his followers to become self-righteous judges who delight in pointing out the failures of others. In fact, Jesus repeatedly warned his disciples about hypocrisy and reminded them to look first at their own lives.

“Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye,” he asks, “but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3.

This is where our Lutheran understanding of Law and Gospel is so important.

God's Law helps us recognise sin for what it is. It exposes injustice, cruelty, dishonesty, selfishness and those things that damage our relationships with God and with one another. We should not pretend that wrong is right.

But the Gospel reminds us that we are all sinners who live by God's grace.

We therefore speak against wrongdoing not from a position of superiority, but as people who ourselves stand in need of forgiveness. We “call it out” because we care about our neighbour—not because we want to shame, embarrass or destroy them. This is particularly important in a school community.

• When we see someone being bullied, excluded or humiliated, we should not simply walk away.
• When we hear a racist, sexist or cruel comment, we should have the courage to challenge it.
• When we see someone being treated unfairly, we should seek help.
• When we notice behaviour that puts another person at risk, we should tell someone we trust.
• And when we ourselves get something wrong, we should have the humility to acknowledge it, apologise and seek forgiveness.

Calling it out takes courage.

Sometimes the courageous thing is to speak directly. Sometimes it is to seek the help of a teacher or another trusted adult. Sometimes it means standing beside the person who is being excluded so that they know they are not alone. And sometimes, perhaps most importantly, it means being willing to hear someone else when they call us out.

Jesus' life ultimately led him to the cross. He was rejected, humiliated and executed by the powers of his day. Yet the cross was not the triumph of cruelty or injustice. In the mystery of God's grace, the cross became the place where God revealed his extraordinary love for humanity.

As Paul reminds us:

“God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”Romans 5:8

This changes the way we respond to the brokenness we see around us.

We don't call things out because we believe we are better than others.

We call them out because every person is precious to God.

We speak when silence would allow someone to be harmed.

We challenge injustice because our neighbour matters.

We seek to change what is wrong while remembering that we too are people who live each day by God's grace.

So, how then should we live?

Perhaps the challenge for all of us this month is simple:

• Have the courage to call it out.
• Call out cruelty—but do it with compassion.
• Call out injustice—but do it with humility.
• Call out bullying—but stand alongside the person who is hurting.
• Call out behaviour that diminishes another person—but remember that the person who has made a mistake is also a person loved by God.
• And when someone calls us out, have the courage and humility to listen. For as followers of Christ, we are called not simply to speak about God's love, but to live it.