By the Way: Re-humanizing
By Medicine Hat News on January 5, 2019.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. — Galatians 3:28 [ESV]. Ah, good ol’ Saint Paul and his seemingly endless words of divinely-inspired wisdom. Every word of every one of his letters are so carefully chosen and so masterfully arranged that it is nearly impossible to reasonably challenge him on any of it. As I was seeking out my own divine inspiration for this week’s By the Way column I had a peek at the biblical texts assigned to New Year’s Day. What actually inspired me, though, was not one of those readings, but rather this little gem that appears just prior to the suggested New Testament reading for Jan. 1. I am sure it has escaped no one’s notice that the Western world has become a bit unstable in the course of the last couple of decades. Much of the instability that we are now experiencing is largely the result of the ramped-up rhetoric surrounding our competing worldviews and ideologies. Now, there have always been divisions in Western societies because we are all recognized as individual people with differing personalities, priorities, and opinions. The one thing that we could all agree on, however, was the common belief that everyone has the right to express their own personalities, priorities and opinions without fear of persecution; the hallmark of a free and open society. And, technically speaking, we still have that. Today feels different, though. The rhetoric that comes from both sides of the political spectrum is much more vicious than it once was. The mud-slinging, the name-calling, and the outright dehumanization of those who hold contrary opinions are now almost completely out of control. The advent of social media, though a helpful and convenient method of communication, has made it even easier for us to rend and tear at one another. It does not require a lot of courage to shout down a faceless and soulless device, forgetting that on the other end there is a human being, made in the image and likeness of God. The way that people with opposing views all too often address one another online would rarely, if ever, happen during a face-to-face conversation. As a result, we are on the verge of a complete collapse of civility and common decency. If and when that happens there will be little hope for any kind of reconciliation. Indeed, once a person is dehumanized it becomes much easier to see him or her as the enemy; a demon that at best should be ignored, and at worst should be silenced by those who have the power to do it. God, through the words of St. Paul is re-humanizing the dehumanized. God is reminding us that we are all, in fact, made in His image and likeness, and His desire is for us to treat each other as such. And what better time for God to remind us of the infinite worth of every human being than at the dawn of New Year’s 2019? Paul even gives us the perfect slogan that everyone can rally around: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Notice that there are no conditions for us attached to this statement. It doesn’t require anyone to have a particular political view, or to have exactly the same opinions on every issue. The only requirement in that beautiful line of text has already been fulfilled in the birth, life, death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we — all of us — are sons and daughters of the living God; different, yet equal in His eyes. Happy New Year. Rev. Pastor Shane Hein is from St. Peter Lutheran Church. 10-9
