Racial Reconciliation ~ More than Relationships

Position determines perspective. Yet, perspective isn’t only what we see but also how we interpret what we see. Does that illuminate why Blacks and Whites struggle to achieve racial reconciliation? As C. S. Lewis noted:

What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.

The Magician’s Nephew, Kindle Edition, 1693

Since we stand in different places, disagreement should come as no surprise. But it does to many White people. Echoes of Rodney King’s question, “Why can’t we just get along?” reverberate throughout the White community.

In East Texas, I served on a community Race Relations Committee. One of our goals was to establish Black/White church partnerships. My African American friends and colleagues and I were genuine in our desire for healing. Yet despite sincere efforts, the dream of healing historic hurts never became a reality. I hoped church members would build meaningful relationships through partnerships. Some did, but friendships alone couldn’t resolve long-standing systemic issues.

Why is racial reconciliation so tricky? In part, because we can’t see what’s apparent to someone else. No matter how much I read and study, I can never see life from a Black perspective. As I learned when I lived in Hong Kong, the only guarantee I have when I assume that I know how someone else feels and thinks is that I don’t. Nevertheless, I want to share some observations. 

What Does the Bible Say?

In answer to a lawyer’s question about who qualified as his neighbor, Jesus told a story we call the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). As a man traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers assaulted him—stripping, beating, and leaving him for dead. Two men, a priest and a Levite, passed by but refused to offer aid. Then a Samaritan stopped to help the wounded man. After treating his wounds, he took the man to a nearby inn to recuperate, leaving money to cover recovery costs. Jesus stunned his audience when he made a mixed-race Samaritan the hero of his story.

Many preachers have expounded on Jesus’ story, encouraging us to see anyone in need as a neighbor. I’d like to add my voice to theirs as we consider ramifications for racial reconciliation. We find four groups or characters in the parable: 

• Victim
• Robbers
• Religious leaders (priest and Levite)
• Samaritan

More Info on the Characters

Each character in Jesus’ story is a product of his culture and history, with its inherent advantages and disadvantages. 

• Although clothes may not have made the man, they revealed his identity. Since the victim was naked, we can’t determine his station or race. He could be anyone but was likely Jewish. Why would he make such a dangerous journey alone? Or did he? Maybe his fellow travelers deserted him when the bandits attacked. 
• We know nothing about the robbers except that they took advantage of the isolated terrain with its natural hiding places and escape routes. Jesus’ audience probably assumed they were Samaritans, a race hated by the Jews. In fact, Samaritans had a reputation for attacking Jews as they traveled to and from the temple. But we don’t know the bandits’ race or ethnicity. Were they evil men or just desperate?
• The priest and Levite were born into a respected tribe (Levi) and held esteemed positions in Jewish religious life. Job security wasn’t an issue. They possessed economic, experiential, familial, and relational advantages over the thieves. Why did they refuse to act? Did their self-interest blind them? Did they fear they would be the next victims? Were they concerned about ritual contamination if the man were dead? Contamination that would render them unclean and disqualify them from their temple duties. Maybe they even prayed for the victim as they passed, although they refused to help him.
• Samaritans were a mixed-race people, whom the Jews despised as Gentiles. They were a people descended from intermarriage between the Israelites left behind and the Assyrians brought in when Assyria conquered Samaria. (2 Kings 17)

How Can the Good Samaritan Story Speak to Racial Reconciliation?

To understand the viewpoint of our non-White brothers and sisters, consider how Jesus’ story can inform our perspective on race relations. Like Jesus’ characters, our life histories and experiences, as well as social systems and structures, shape us. The schools we attend, the neighborhoods we inhabit, and the family/friend connections we cultivate. Whites and non-Whites live in the same country but not the same world. Claiming to be colorblind can blind us to the reality of unequal opportunities. Our skin color colors our world. Even if unspoken, people make assumptions and form expectations based on the amount of melanin we possess. The way they treat us reflects that.

Racism is more than interpersonal problems, and solutions demand more than developing interracial relationships or treating everyone with courtesy. Social issues require social changes, systemic changes. If we genuinely want racial reconciliation, we must first listen, attempting to see life from the perspective of our non-White brothers and sisters. Then we must act. Rev. Dr. Curtiss DeYoung observed that declaring we are equal without repairing the wrongs of the past is cheap reconciliation. 

Racial Reconciliation According to the Bible

God has given believers the message and ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). Recognizing the dominant racial conflict of his day, Paul called for the abolition of hostility between Jews and Gentiles. 

[Jesus] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

Ephesians 2:14, 15-16

Through his death, Jesus destroyed the barrier that divides the races, reconciling us to God and one another. In Christ, we are one race. Christ’s love compels Christians to make the peace he purchased on the cross a reality. Accomplishment of that goal requires removing both the corporate and individual litter of racial inequities left by previous generations. Relationships across racial lines are a necessary first step, but they mustn’t be our only step.

In his story, Jesus changed the emphasis of the lawyer’s question from who a neighbor is to what a neighbor does. As Jesus showed us, love is costly.

Why are those who didn’t cause racial problems responsible for remedying them? Because we’re neighbors. And because God calls us to love one another, both the person before us and all those behind her. Will we listen? Will we fulfill our calling?