Dr. Luke on Prejudice:

Something To Think About Prejudice:

Fear rides on the back of “news.”  At its most basic level a neighbor tells those who live around him that there is some danger—the water is bad, a rabid animal is on the loose, or a fugitive criminal has fled to the area.  Quite properly the neighborhood bands together to protect its citizens, especially the most vulnerable.  It’s the kind of thing we read about in Little House on the Prairie stories.  The problem is we now get our news, not from a neighbor, but from a talking-head on the TV screen, or via a story on the internet.  The danger is amorphous, and there is nothing that I or my neighbors can do about it.  Fear festers in an environment where I really don’t know, and, in particular, where I’m helpless.  There is no fire to put out, no tornado to shelter from, no mad-dog to kill.  Just as mold grows in the damp, prejudice tends to flourish in these conditions.  Unless we guard against it we tend to think in terms of “those people.”  “All retired, gray-haired men are embezzlers.  I just saw a story about it on the evening news. I find the message of the Gospel of Luke incredibly relevant to our situation.  Dr. Luke goes out of his way to champion the cause of groups—those people--who were despised.  Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in dialogue with an expert in Jewish religious law.  Jesus finished the story with a question, “. . . which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits” (Luke 10:36)? The Samaritan was clearly the hero, but the expert couldn’t even bring himself to answer the question in the obvious way.  Instead of saying, “The Samaritan,” he replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”   The Parable of the Good Samaritan is but one example of Luke challenging the prejudices of his day.  It’s hard to read Luke and not ask, “If Luke were writing today would he stick-up for some people that I tend to put-down?” Luke tells us about the birth of our Savior.  The good news that He brought was for “all people” (Luke 2:10), even “those people.” It’s STTA.