A Simple Truth

 

3/4/2023

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

I would consider my son a Cinephile, or someone who is passionate about movies. His tastes run the gamut from horror and giant monster movies, to sci-fi and comedy, to noir and musicals, to old classics and even documentaries. Today, in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, he invited me over to watch the 1968 musical Finian’s Rainbow. It is an altogether silly and fun movie with deep racial overtones. I will not go into a synopsis here, but if you are looking for a latter Fred Astaire outing, this would be one to watch.

So, why am I bringing this movie up? Well, because of the film’s ultra-prejudiced senator character, name Billboard Rawkins, has been trying to basically steal a plot of land that a racially mixed group of people live on through the state officials he has in his pocket. He wants to go back to a more “gentile” time where people “knew their place”. Through an interesting turn of events involving Leprechaun magic, he gets turned into a black man. This causes him to panic and hide in the woods from his cronies. In one scene, while he is walking down a road, he meets a singing group called Passion Pilgrim Gospeliers. The three sharply dressed and very kind men are black. They ask him if he has heard of them and he answers, “I’ve kind of been out of touch with the Gospel recently.”

Even though there are other references to spiritual things and church, this is the most hard-hitting line in the movie. As he is being humbled through his circumstances, he admits that he no longer interacts with scripture. It is clear that is the root of why he has been so hateful and degrading to those that aren’t like him. The moment, and entire scene, took my breath away. At his lowest point, he is shown kindness by men that he would have judged (or worse) before. They actually ask him to join their group as their 4^th singer. They are men of faith, love, and joy, and this is exactly what he needed to turn his thinking and attitude around.

Reading the Gospels, and the Bible in its entirety, is transformative like nothing else on earth. Once you interact with it, if you have an open and willing heart, you cannot deny its truths or teachings. One of the things that it strongly imparts to the reader is that we are to love our neighbor, and that means everyone. No exceptions. Prejudice in any form is unbiblical and not of God. Full Stop!