What can we learn from the Apostle Paul in the wake of domestic terrorism committed by white supremacists? I wish these events were non-existent. I cannot help but wonder if they are increasing in frequency, bolstered by a vacancy in the See of American Moral and Ethical Authority.
White supremacy, and the privilege which can spawn it, stand in stark opposition to the life Jesus offers, the life to which Saul of Tarsus was rudely awakened.
It would be great if I could tell you I easily acknowledged and then eagerly embraced the leveraging of my privilege. But when one is a beneficiary of privilege, there is seemingly little boon in admitting the obvious. It is an inconvenient truth.
When a privileged one is struck blind by the Gospel’s Light, the scales of bias do not immediately, or completely, fall from the eyes (Acts 9). With a hardened heart, the privileged either cannot see, refuses to see, or denies that which is in plain sight.
Like a disoriented Saul, an alt-Pharisee, the recovering privileged must be led by the hand of, and instructed by, another who sees clearly because of the Light. Yet there comes a point in time when the Jesus-mandated necessity to see with one’s own eyes forcefully removes the luxury of relying on another’s guidance.
Charlottesville has ripped another scale from the eyes of privilege. At least, it should have.
It is again time to test our vision.
Will the Good News of Jesus annunciated on Sundays finally motivate the privileged to integrate their faith Mondays through Saturdays, to stop being led, and to start leading? Or must our nation wait for the privileged to be dragged by the hand to yet another stop on the Damascus Expressway from Calvary, agonize at one more tomb, and there hope Resurrection’s commission to conquer death is seen enfleshed?
When will the privileged awaken to the hurt caused by ceaselessly kicking against the goads (Acts 26)?