Evangelicals, Please Don't Set Up Ethnic Minorities for a Fall

The Danger of Reading the Good Samaritan as “Not About Me”

All right guys a little serious video today I've got I have a lot of time unfortunately this morning to to joke around a little bit, but Yesterday I was I was coming home from church alone. With my kids my my one of my youngest kid was homesick and so my wife stayed home with him but I was thinking about I was reflecting about my last couple years online and on YouTube and how it all started and stuff like that and I was remembering a Sermon or a speech that Matt Chandler gave at the MLK 50 conference Today's Martin Luther King day or whatever and In that sermon he talks about the parable of the Good Samaritan and at one point He says he goes listen up white people.

This is so important and you know as a non-white that I I that kind of stuff always makes me pay attention because there is definitely a Kind of partiality in a statement like that, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Partiality it could be something important.

But in this case, it was it was something that I think puts minorities Black people, you know brown people in a very dangerous situation it it it sets us up to fall into a trap and And I'm really serious about that I don't know if I want to characterize it as a trap but but we have a tendency in the Bible when we read the Bible and we hear about the wicked and we hear about People that don't understand and don't get it.

We have a tendency to automatically Exclude ourselves from that category. So like for example, this is just an example. But when the Bible talks about the rich and the rich do this the rich do that the rich we often say well I'm not rich and we don't put ourselves in that category and it just comes naturally to us.

This is part of our flesh that just rises up. I'm not rich, but I am rich. I mean, obviously I'm rich I'm in the top certain percentage of people in the entire world I I've got I can go to the grocery store and pick out any number of spices at any moment I could I can go online and order something and it'll be at my house the next day pretty much any good that I could Imagine I can put on credit.

I've got good enough credit that I can get it. And even if you don't have good credit, I mean chances are you live in a warm house chances are you have a cellular phone in your pocket a computer that that that a rich person couldn't have fathomed a Couple decades ago.

So so we have this we fall into this trap a lot where we we hear the parable but we don't really hear it and Today's Martin Luther King Day. I know a lot of people really, you know, take this day very seriously and celebrate and think about and contemplate.

Hearing Parables Without Hearing the Point

Well, let me give this to you to contemplate on Martin Luther King Day. Please if you're white and you want to love your black and brown brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't set us up to fall into this trap let me tell you what I mean here because Jesus tells these parables and You know People ask him in the Bible in Matthew 13.

They ask. Well, why why do you teach in parables? And he and he says this he says look because it when I teach him in parables. Looking he is the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know.

But it has not been given to them for whoever has more will be given and he will have more than enough. But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him. That is why I speak to them in parables because looking they do not see and hearing they do not listen or understand.

So you can hear the parable and miss the point you understand what I'm saying? So that's why he speaks in parables. You can hear the parable but miss the point don't set us up for this. Don't set us up for this the parable of the Good Samaritan.

I remember Matt Chandler saying that that the white people were essentially like the like the Pharisee trying to justify himself the expert in the law trying to justify himself. Who is my neighbor and then he tells the story of the pair of the Good Samaritan and you know.

The one the Samaritan takes care of the guy that's fallen among monks robbers and stuff like that. And he says that's the one who's been been a neighbor to the to the to the person. He showed him mercy go and do likewise and the tendency is.

For us to be like well, I wouldn't be like that guy. In fact, a lot of us tend to put ourselves in the in the place of the guy who's fallen amongst robbers. You see we missed the point of this parable and and and I'm I'm willing to bet I'm not gonna say this across the board.

Of course, I don't have statistics on us. I don't know this but a lot of social justice advocates whether they're black or brown put without really. Thinking about this put blacks and browns in the place of that guy who's beaten up on the road and.

And the problem with that is that yes, sometimes There are people that are that are in marginalized communities that that that that have been treated in that way. But the but the problem is that blacks and browns need to hear this parable from the real perspective.

To from the perspective of who is my neighbor? You know, you understand what I'm saying? Like just because you're in a marginalized community does not mean that you don't have to hear this parable the way white people hear this Parable we need to have mercy and so often marginalized people don't have mercy on their fellow man.

They aren't neighborly to their fellow man just because someone's in a marginalized community does not give them an automatic moral superiority. Where they're just like this peaceful, you know, you know, we're just good to everybody kind of people.

That's not how it is. If you've ever been to the ghetto. I've been to the ghetto my Grandparents still live in the ghetto. I'm sorry. They used to up until a couple years ago. And it's not like everyone's just taking care of each other in the ghetto.

Yes, so so let's not let's not pretend like like blacks and browns. Puerto Ricans don't need to hear this parable in the same way that white people need to hear this parable. It's not white people. Listen up you try to justify yourselves all the time.

No, everybody tries to justify themselves all the time. So don't set us up to fall into that trap. Well, we we identify with the guy who fell amongst the robbers and we miss the point of this parable where we have to be.

A neighbor to everybody else don't show partiality that way. It makes me mad because because I see the danger that so many blacks and browns fall into where they are. Always feeling justified. They don't have to do literally anything and these parables aren't speaking to them.

They're speaking to the power structures and this is this is nothing new this is this is a temptation that clearly has been going on for a long time because Jesus told that other parable of the Unforgiving servant see the servant was a marginalized community, I guess and he gets forgiven of a great debt.

And what does he go and do he goes and beats his little his little his little friend for a couple bucks. Not showing mercy because this is with a human condition whether you're poor or rich you have wickedness in your heart.

And you need to root it out don't fall for this trap the parable of the Good Samaritan. It doesn't if you're black or brown that you're not you're not in the place of the person who fell amongst robbers.

You're you're in the place of the people that tend to go on the other side. So they don't take care of their neighbor. No. You need to look at this parable the same way everyone does the same way your oppressor class does if that's even such a thing.

This is about the condition of your heart don't fall for this trap and white people. Please don't set us up to fall for this trap. We all have to take responsibility for ourselves, obviously. But when I heard Matt Chandler say that listen up white people seeking to justify himself I'm thinking but what about the blacks and browns that seek to justify ourselves?

We have a sin nature too, and we need to confront it and we need to go to Christ with it. Don't set us up for that trap. Don't set us up to feel justified in all of our our sin. I mean people are joking and laughing about about.

You know Kyle Howard's just Obvious racism that he displays every single day on Twitter and stuff like that. And yeah, it's fun to joke about some of the more stupid things that he says. But but that man's soul is at stake the condition of his soul is.

Is is is is he bears it out for everyone to see he vomits out vile stuff all the time? And that's a sad thing. And you know what? Lots of people have encouraged him to fall for this trap where he literally reads the Good Samaritan.

And he doesn't think that's about him. He thinks he's the victim on the street and everyone else is the is the people that Jesus is talking to you. See that is a super dangerous place to be if you read the Bible that way you're in trouble.

You're in trouble. I tweeted this out yesterday and honestly, this is such an important verse. Do not act unjustly when deciding a case do not be partial to the poor or give preference to the rich. Judge your neighbor fairly.

Yes. This is primarily talking about a criminal court case. But this should be something that every day in your life. You seek to cultivate don't show partiality to the poor. Don't show deference to the poor or the rich.

Yeah, we can easily see that a lot of people do this towards the rich, but people do this towards the poor, too. So anyway, I hope this isn't too rambly. I'm not gonna have too much time to edit it and i'm just gonna put it out there, but I hope this is helpful.

God bless.