Regarding diversity, to my fellow Christians: get used to it.
Take this statement in the most positive, encouraging sense. Social diversity is the destiny of history, and God declares it a good thing, the very context of Eternal celebration:
After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They were shouting out in a loud voice,
“Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels stood there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground before the throne and worshiped God, saying,
“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
What’s more, God is not interested in us waiting until eternity to begin embracing unity in diversity.
For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. If they were all the same member, where would the body be? So now there are many members, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it.
Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.
We live in a social climate where political divisions and enmity are manipulated according to race, economic status and gender. For 2000 years now, these are precisely the lines of division that Christians have been commanded to disavow.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female – for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
If this is the wisdom of God, such wisdom would reap earthly benefits in the workforce. Numerous articles and research projects speak to The Economic Benefits of Diversity. Research confirms that:
- There are both costs and benefits to diversity.
- The costs are often short-term and the benefits long-term.
- Diversity yields more innovation and more thoughtful decision-making.
It takes hard work and creativity to effectively bridge a culture gap, and those ingredients just happen to be the ingredients for success.
Jesus showed surprising respect
During Jesus’ day, Jews avoided going through Samaria. And for good reason — for centuries, the worst things in Israel came from the sinfulness epitomized by Samaritans, those half-breed idolatrous compromisers of the faith that brought God’s judgement heavy upon them when they were carted off to slavery in Assyria and Babylon until they repented. In fact, much of what motivated the Pharisees into a deep focus on religious laws was to never again be like those filthy Samaritans. Don’t think like those Samaritans! Don’t act like those Samaritans! Stay away from them!
Imagine Jesus’ disciples’ surprise when Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” (John 4:4). He shocked more people when they stopped on the journey.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. ) So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
Especially because Samaritans — a woman with a reputation no less — were considered second-class citizens, Jesus’ treatment of this woman as a person worthy of dignity and respect stands out in sharp contrast to the social and moral expectations of his day.
Keep reading John 4. There’s a whole lot more.
Respect and honor does not mean moral compromise
Jesus did not compromise on theological or ethical topics. He did not dodge controversies such as religious truth or standards of behavior. The Samaritans’ false religion was still false, and the woman’s trail of broken marriages was still a pile of brokenness. But he didn’t pile on.
She felt honored and respected by this man who accepted her despite her racial, religious, and moral alienation. This was a man she found worth promoting — could he be the Messiah? — and many of the townspeople of Sychar began following Jesus.
This is the challenge we face as Christians today.
Can we empathize with others so different from us? Can we honor, respect, and value them, and seek our common humanity?
Can we not reject those whose moral failures seem repugnant to us? Can we respond with compassion, recognizing their sense of alienation is already stronger than we realize.
Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?” So they left the town and began coming to him.
John 4:27-30
There is something shocking, even scandalous, about showing respect across the diversity divides. It’s also incredibly winsome and inviting. Just like Jesus.