Jesus on Prejudice
The challenge in really ‘hearing’ Jesus’ parables in our current situation for not merely what they say but what they actually mean, is that many of us have been ‘overexposed’ to Christianity. That term ‘overexposure’ was originally used in Photography referring to the exposure of film to the light for too long of a period of time. This would render the photos unusable because it would result in print defects that made what the picture was supposed to show no longer clear.
Unfortunately, this is what has happened to much of the Church when it comes to the Bible, and more specifically to Jesus’ parables. We are too familiar with them and so they do not ‘hit’ us in the way Jesus intends for them to ‘hit’ us. They do not bring into focus the very picture Jesus is intending for us to see. Therefore, because they are not understood they have very little appreciable impact in our lives.
This blog post will require courage. It will require humility. It will require unflinching honesty in the face of our deepest prejudices. Even ones we cannot or do not want to admit we have. Therefore, let’s engage in an exercise which I think will help us immensely in recapturing Jesus’ intended effect with one of His parables...
You will notice in the below passage of scripture that the characters from Jesus’ parable have blanks for you to fill in.
As you see the description under each blank, please honestly and courageously (in the face of your own pride) fill them in. Then we will go back through the Text and experience Jesus’ parable afresh—as He intended—as His original audience would have experienced it.
“9 Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else.
10 “Two [people] went up to the temple to pray, one a __________________. (#1 insert a representative of a group you support) and the other a ________________ (#2 insert a member of a group you do not support) 11 The __________________ stood (insert the rep. you chose for #1 ) and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: ______________, ______________, (insert 2 more groups or kinds of people you do not support)—or even like this ______________. (insert the rep. you placed in #2) 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 The ______________, (insert the rep. of the group you placed in #2) however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ 14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the ______________. (insert the rep. of the group you chose for #1) For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”—Luke 18:9-14 (NET)
Now take a moment and go back over this parable by reading it to yourself with the blanks filled in with the answers you bravely and honestly wrote down. Does this parable take on a whole new aspect of meaning for the implications for our everyday lives? It should. Jesus is highlighting something common to the human experience and absolutely abhorrent to God. Jesus told this parable to shock people out of their self-deception and to reveal what the nature of the love Jesus calls us to really means. But when we read this parable, (or any parable of Jesus for that matter) we tend to be just like the Pharisee Jesus is showing to be a spiritual imposter. We tend to grant ourselves the status of the person Jesus is commending, rather than the person Jesus is correcting. You and I need to understand that parables are told to change us. If we continue to place ourselves in the position of the ‘hero’ we are missing Jesus’ point!
