WWJD By Dr. Richard Youngblood
Question: What would Jesus do to promote racial harmony and unity?
The inauguration of an
African-American president leads us to reflect on the history of race relations
in our country. Thankfully, we have been
able to put behind us much of the external hatred and cruelties of racial
bigotry and prejudice of the 1950’s and 60’s.
To a great extent, Martin Luther King’s dream has been realized that
“little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by
the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” We have learned many lessons from a
difficult time in history. While the
external appearance of unity is protected by law, racial prejudices often
remain in the hearts of people. Because
of these prejudices, we must always vigilantly promote a spirit of unity that
flows from convictions which lie deep in our hearts.
Because people of all races and nations were created
in the same image of God and share in the blood given to our first parents
(Genesis 1:27; Acts 17:26), God gave his only Son and sent him into this world to confront the sins of hatred, injustice and willful ignorance. That Son taught his followers about caring
and responsibility for others by telling them the story of the Good
Samaritan. This Samaritan, who was of an
ethnic group considered outcasts by the Jews, stopped to help a Jew who had been beaten, robbed and left for
dead. Earlier a Jewish priest as well as
a Levite passed the wounded man without stopping to help. From this teaching, we know that Jesus wanted
his disciples to be neighbors to everyone regardless of their ethnic, racial or
religious background.
This oneness that Jesus sought did not mean that people
would need to abandon their racial, national, or ethnic heritage. Although some of the early believers
mistakenly tried to make Gentiles become Jews before they could be accepted as
Christians, this was rejected by Christian leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 15). Jews and Gentiles were told to “accept
one another, then, just as Christ accepted you” (Romans 15:7).
Instead of expecting people to abandon their racial heritage,
the early Christians were taught that they become one with each other by their
reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In the book of Acts, we read about a man from
Ethiopia, whom we presume to be a black man, was among the earliest converts to
Christianity (Acts 8:26-39). Through the
death of Jesus on the cross, we can all be made one—not by human treaties,
laws, color of skin or racial heritage—but by our common faith in Jesus Christ
(2 Corinthians 5:14-21; cf. Galatians 3:28).
This message of reconciliation to God and to one another as the family
of God is the only approach to unity among all people on earth that works from
the heart outward. I believe that this
is the way Jesus wants his followers to promote unity and harmony among the
races of the earth. If we would be
faithful to Jesus, we must get the message out, “Red and yellow, black and
white, they are precious in his sight.”
If they are precious to Jesus, then they are also precious to his
followers.
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