Does the Bible Address Privilege?

Race.

Privilege.

Police.

White.

Black.

Riot.

Protest.

COVID.

Masks.

Reopen America.

Stay Home, Stay Safe.

Trump.

Biden. 
Red. 
Blue. 
Fox News. 
NBC News. 
Fake News. 

"37" by daffg is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

There are so many issues and so much media right now. There are so many opinions. There is so much need for careful discernment about what to read, listen to, believe and say. There is so much shouting. So much noise.

In our house, we do our best to collect and consume a wide variety of media and find sources that are original fact reporters that are as unbiased as we can find. 

That said, we all know by now that each of us carries inherent biases. And our minds are so malleable, we have to constantly ask ourselves why we think what we think. What conditioning have we experienced that led to those thoughts? And should we actually think what we think?

We don’t belong to a political party. We don't consider ourselves liberal or conservative. We don't believe any political stance is flawless. We love to hear people's opinions and their reasons for them, especially when they are different from our own. So what do we stand on? What steers us? 

With all the noise, I keep going back to one really important question as I navigate the issues today. Really, it's THE question.

“What does the Bible say?”

Today it's about privilege. 

What does the Bible say about privilege? I don't know of the word privilege being used as it is today in the Bible, but it occurred to me that Jesus gave us a beautiful example of privilege and what to do with it in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luke 10: 25-37.)

"Concern" by Jan Tik is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I'll give you a quick rundown of the story Jesus told in terms that make sense plain sense today. (The great Teacher that He is, He was always using stories to make great points.) 

A man is traveling and gets robbed, stripped, beaten and left for dead in a ditch. He is passed by several different people who didn't help but instead go out of their way to walk by on the opposite side of the road! One of those people was a priest (Ouch! Hello, church!), the other a Jew from the Levite lineage. Eventually, a Samaritan man stops, administers first aid, give the man a ride on his donkey while he walks beside, puts him up in a hotel (the Bible says "inn") and pays for home health care for as long as the man needs it. 

That's the story in a nutshell. And on it's own it is beautiful. But diving deeper into the context, it gets even better! 

First, the story is told during a time of a deep, contentious cultural divide. (Sound familiar?) The traveler is presumably Jewish. At the time Jews and Samaritans were in a hate-hate relationship. Culturally speaking, the priest and the Levite would be expected to be the most likely to have wanted to help their fellow Jew fallen on hard times. But they didn't. No, instead it was the Samaritan who "crossed the aisle" of cultural and political differences to serve the traveler. 

Here's what I see. It looks like I'm supposed to ignore the outward characteristics that make people around me different than myself when evaluating who to help and when. I'm supposed to help even when it's least comfortable and socially safe to do so. I'm supposed to advocate for people in need even when their cause isn't my cause and their struggle isn't my struggle. And maybe even I'm supposed to love those that are the hardest to love?! Whoa now. Ok...

Second, the whole reason Jesus was telling his disciples this story is that he had instructed them to "Love your neighbor as yourself." The disciples, being human and thinking like it wanted a clear, easy answer about who that meant they had to love as themselves. They were likely hoping it meant the person that lived right next to them in similar circumstances socially, culturally and economically. In other words, the person that was likely the easiest for them to love. But NOPE! Jesus turned that idea upside-down and makes a point that the person who they are to love as themselves is the person likely on the bottom of their list of desirable options. (Darn it all! Are you serious? I'm supposed to love that guy as myself?!)

The last contextual detail is where privilege shows up. The Samaritan man obviously had resources. The traveler had nothing left. (And it wasn't his fault, just like those with less than you or I often arrived at that place by no fault of their own.) The traveler was not the Samaritan's problem. The Samaritan had no responsibility to help. No one at all would have expected or pressured him to help. He was the least likely candidate. But he acknowledged that he was in a position with the power (resources, ability, skill, etc) to help. THAT IS PRIVILEGE. He didn't look at the man and think "Bummer. Sucks to be you!" He looked at the man, had compassion, and sacrificed his time, money and likely even his social status among his peers to help the traveler. He realized something that we who are in positions of power in this society must own. We have privilege and privilege means we have a responsibility--a duty--to use our position to lift others. 

In fact, Jesus concludes his lesson with that very directive when he says "Go and do likewise." 

So what does it mean today to "Go and do likewise?"

I think it means asking ourselves about the different kinds of power and advantage (see "privilege") we each have and how we can use it to help those who don't. 

Does your race put you in a position of power today?

Does your gender put you in a position of power today?

Does your net worth put you in a position of power today?

Does your employment status put you in a position of power today?

Does your citizenship put you in a position of power today? 

Does your profession put you in a position of power today? 

Does your physical strength put you in a position of power today?

Does your resume' put you in a position of power today? 

Does your food or housing security put you in a position of power today?

Does your health put you in a position of power today?

Does your voice put you in a position of power today?

Does your ________ put you in a position of power today? 

I can definitely say yes to some of those questions. And now that I know better, I must do better. I must "Go and do likewise." I must use my positions of power to tend to the wounds of others, pick them up and carry them to safety and stability and ability.  

I doubt anyone I know would pass by a beaten person in a ditch without helping...but I challenge you to consider that many people are laying in the ditches of society today and their beatings by life’s circumstances and other people's actions have them wounded deeply below their skin's surface...our responsibility applies here just as well.

Yep, the Bible tells us that Jesus addressed privilege and it also tells us we don't get to just sit comfortably in our privilege and defend it (aka, walk by on the other side of the road and ignore the problem).

Humbly and Prayerfully,

--Krista