Where is Your Hero Now?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach responds to recent news surrounding the criminal defense of Luigi Mangione and the way his actions were once publicly framed by some as heroic. He reflects on the confusion that comes when violence is excused or celebrated and points to Jesus’ teaching that a person is known by their fruit. Through that lens, he challenges listeners to reject false narratives about justice and remember the value of every life made in the image of God.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

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Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, where is your hero now? And this is prompted by the recent news coming out of the criminal defense of Luigi Mangione. If you don't remember who he is, he was all the rage last year in the news when he murdered the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in the streets of Manhattan. Mangioni was made out to be a folk hero, a, kind of vigilante against corporate greed and the broken US Health care system. In fact, I covered the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare on this podcast and to this day, it is the worst, most grotesque comments and feedback I have ever gotten as people celebrated the murder of a man who had a family at the hands of a so called hero who took the justice system into his own hands. People told me how out of step I was, how I didn't know what it was really like out there in the world. And that this guy's death was a good thing. Which you might expect would be Mangioni's defense, right? Hey, I did what I did because, what I did was right. He deserved to die. The system is corrupt. You would think he would throw himself at the mercy of a jury that would see our need for vigilantism or that he would fall on the sword of martyrdom. Hey, I did the right thing and I'm prepared to pay the cost. Only not so fast. In fact, crowdsource funding for his defense raised $1.5 million. And he hired those attorneys apparently to argue that he's crazy. Because that's the defense they're going with temporary insanity. Their argument is that Mangioni, who was, I guess, a brilliant student and an all American guy up until right before the murder, went crazy. Something broke in his head and as a consequence, he did things he would never otherw have done and chose violence he would never otherwise have justified. And when I read this story, I'll leave aside Mangione's guilt or innocence. I'll leave aside an insanity defense. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a psychiatrist. I just read it and thought how silly all the people who treated him like a hero look now because you see, it can't be both, can it? He can't be a vigilante who took the system into his own hand and argue that he's crazy. He can't argue that he's crazy and paint himself out to be a hero. You called him a hero. He's calling himself insane. Well, let me ask you a question. What do you call someone who celebrates a murderer who is mentally unstable? I guess you would call them a little insane too. Jesus said it this way. in the Gospels, you will know them by their fruits. James says, in James, chapter three, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? You see, I didn't need Mangione's criminal defense attorneys to tell me something had broken in his head and in his heart. You know how you knew that? He cold blooded murdered a man in the streets, which was never okay, never a sign of rational thinking or of actually caring about justice. And shame on our country. That, that we even entertained that idea was crazy then, it's crazy now. And if you don't believe me, let Mangioni's defense attorneys tell you themselves. Violence is the recourse of people who either don't have the ability to pursue actual change in the arena of ideas, or who don't care enough about human beings and human life to actually put in the work. Do you know what the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO accomplished? Nothing. Except for breaking the hearts of his children and his wife. Because UnitedHealthcare just went out and got another CEO. Probably beefed up their security system so that it didn't happen again. And you know what? Good for them. Murder is not the answer to actual change. And we should know that by now. Pretty extensive examples in human history that tells us that is not the case. And so I'll say it again. If you celebrated the murder of the United Healthcare CEO and you're a follower of Jesus, shame on you. You need to repent. You need to acknowledge that you were wrong. And maybe now you can do that since his defense attorneys are telling you you were wrong. This man was made in the image of God and to kill him was an offense against God and himself. I shouldn't have to say that, but I do. Maybe this time you'll listen. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community chapel app or our website ccchapel.com.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]!