16 Sept 2020

Jesus speaks to the Racist

 The White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan in the 1960s were "described by the FBI as the most violent right-wing terrorist organization in America". 

They murdered, bombed and terrorised in Mississippi, pouring their hatred upon all involved in the Civil Right movement.
We like to think we live in a more civilised time but racial tension still exists as the summer has shown.
We in Dromara might feel removed from all that's going on in the big cities but we mustn't fool ourselves in thinking that hatred towards others doesn't reside in our hearts too.
Hatred and disdain towards an other person because they're part of a certain group is not a new phenomenon. It's found all through human history and across every culture. If we can separate our world into "Us" and "Them" we have the perfect breeding ground for racism.

It's clear from encounters Jesus had with others and stories he told that he had a lot to say about hatred towards "Them".
Isn't that the very root of racism? Wherever we sit in the spectrum of racism (and we all sit somewhere and probably not as far down the scale as we'd like to think), if we can identify a "Them" we are at the starting gate for hatred towards them. From our lofty position we look down on them. We see them as less than us. Therefore 'they' don't deserve our respect. We devalue them. Show indifference and contempt towards them. Hatred spews from our angry hearts.
Both the cold anger of contempt and the hot fury of violence towards the other are destroying our communities.

We want to ask: how would Jesus answer the issue of racism? What did he say when he came across someone who had a hatred for another person? A hatred for the individual just because of their skin colour or their cultural background? His response will help us to think through our own response to our hatred towards 'them'.

Jesus in his story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) turns racism on it's head. The hated one becomes the hero. 


The story is told by Jesus to answer the question, Who is my Neighbour? That question had been asked by a man that wanted to make himself look good. It seems the man wasn't much different from you and me. He wanted to establish a narrow group of people just like himself that he was to love. He had just summarised the second half of God's Law as saying "Love your neighbour as yourself" but he wanted to put borders on that love. "I should love those just like me but not "Them".

Jesus' answer isn't what we'd expect. He didn't tell a story of "Us" stepping over the border to show love and compassion to "Them". No, Jesus' story and point was more powerful than that. In the Story of the Good Samaritan it's "Them" that shows love to "Us".
By doing this Jesus;
1. Humanises "Them"- It's the Samaritan that shows compassion to the one beaten up at the roadside. He's the Hero of the story. He's the one we're cheering. Samaritan's were hated by the Jews. The Jews saw the Samaritans as less than them. But in Jesus story the hated becomes the hero.
2. Unseats "Us" -we are removed from the centre and placed at the margins. No longer in the place of power but helpless at the side of the road and in need. To make matter worse our help doesn't come from our own kind but from them.
Jesus questioner recognised the merciful love that was shown. And Jesus told him to go and do likewise. Go and show that merciful love to all regardless of cultural background, skin colour or position.

But Jesus' story goes beyond who is my neighbour, it addresses the initial question the man asked. "What must I do to inherit eternal life"
Tom Tarrant's discovered the answer to that question while serving a 30 year sentence in Mississippi State Penitentiary as a leader within the White Knights of the KKK. 
He had for many years been consumed by hatred but as he read the gospels in solitary confinement he discovered that through faith in Jesus he was redeemed by love.
The Public Prosecutor at Tom's trial was sent by J Edgar Hoover (the head of the FBI) to investigate the reported change of this KKK member. A few weeks after visiting Tom in Prison, the prosecutor, himself became a Christian such was the change he saw in Tom. Nothing but the truth of Jesus could explain the transformation he saw in that prison cell.
On release from prison Tom Tarrant became a champion of racial reconciliation. And that's what you find him doing now as President of the CS Lewis Institute. (He tells his story in Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love- I can't wait to read it)
Tom's life reminds us that Jesus's words don't just inform the racist of another way they transform a heart and life bend on hatred to one who loves all with a merciful love.
What would "Go and do likewise" look for you?

[Photo by John Cameronon Unsplash]

The video below for Solas-cpc.orglooks a bit deeper into Racism. This is where I first heard about Tom Tarrant.