Christians have often hoped for a time when our racial and economic differences would cease, when in Christ we would all be indistinguishable. Such impulses are earnest but fundamentally misguided.
Many such interpretations emerge from a fervent hope that the specters of racism, sexism and myriad other destructive "isms" would no longer bind us to cycles of violence and hate. Many such interpretations emerge from a misreading of texts like Galatians 3:28. Such readings imagine that becoming Christians means becoming all the same in all ways. There are no ethnic differences between us ("no longer Jew or Greek"), no differences of class and status between us ("no longer slave or free"), no gendered differences between us ("no longer male and female").
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Galatians teaches that "in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith" (Galatians 3:26). Our adoption as children of God, however, does not erase our differences. We are not the same, but we are reminded that our differences are not ways to measure our value in the eyes of God and one another.
How Pentecost Helps Us Think Differently About Difference
The story of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21 helps us understand how God sees human diversity: one of God's greatest gifts to the world. At Pentecost, God through the Spirit does not erase our differences but embraces the fact that God has made us all so wonderfully different.
First, a quick recap. The final chapters of the Gospel of Luke and the first chapters of Acts finds the disciples and other followers of Jesus regrouping and discerning what a life of faith together looks like after his death, resurrection and ascension. Both at the end of the Gospel of Luke and again at the beginning of Acts, Jesus promises that he would bestow this gathered community with the gift of the Spirit (Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
The gift arrives in grand style.
These early followers of Jesus gather in Jerusalem along with fellows Jews from around the Mediterranean world (Acts 2:5-11). They are gathered together in one place when suddenly tongues of fire descend from the heavens on the day of Pentecost. The gift of the spirit precipitates an extraordinary event. As the disciples proclaim the good news, everyone hears the good news proclaimed in their own language.
Many interpreters have viewed this Pentecost moment as a direct response to the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), a fantastic story that seeks to explain how a people once united by common ancestors eventually became peoples with many different languages. Some have forwarded that Pentecost reverses the punishment God meted out at Babel. Finally, we can understand one another because the Spirit enables all to understand one language.
To me, this is a significant misreading of Babel. Is it really a punishment from God that we are all different, that we speak different languages and live in different cultures? That is, is difference a problem in need of a solution? I certainly don't think so, and the vibrancy of the world's cultures is evidence against this misreading of Babel.
Most importantly, if Pentecost were a reversal of Babel, if Pentecost undid the diversity of human languages precipitated by Babel, why would the Spirit enable everyone to hear the Gospel preached in their own languages? Why not cause everyone to understand one, universal, heavenly language?
Notice what happens at Pentecost. God, through the Spirit, chooses to meet us where we are: in the midst of a multitude of languages and experiences. The Spirit translates the Gospel instantly into myriad languages. If you think this is easy, then you have never tried learning a new language! You don't just substitute one word in one language for a corresponding word in another language. Language is messy and intricate. Language is rooted in a wider and complex culture and way of thinking and living. Even when we speak the same language, don't we still have a hard time understanding one another? Imagine then the miracle of Pentecost and what it means for us today.
God meets us in the messiness of different languages and does not ask us to speak God's language. Instead, God chooses to speak our many languages. God does not speak in a divine language beyond our comprehension. At Pentecost, God speaks in Aramaic and Greek and other ancient languages. Today, God continues to speak in Spanish, Greek, Hindi and Chinese alike.
At Pentecost, God makes God's choice clear. God joins us in the midst of the messiness and the difficulties of speaking different languages, eating different foods and living in different cultures. That is good news indeed.
Embracing God's Gift Of Difference Today
When Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, political pundits rejoiced that we had finally brought about the dawn of a "post-racial" society. If we were paying attention for the last few years, we know this was naive, maybe even foolish. Our differences linger, for worse and for better.
Just last week, the Census released an important statistic, which reflects a fundamental reshaping of American culture. The majority of children now born in the United States are from minority, non-white populations. Some among us will see these massive demographic shifts and fear that the character of a nation will be irretrievably lost.
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However, the problems we face across cultures are not our differences. Instead, when we imbue those differences with prejudice and rank, when our differences become a way to determine who is in and who is out -- who is better and who is inferior -- then we corrupt God's gift of difference.
So, let us set aside the prejudices that infect our relationships with one another. They are poisons that only lead to hatred and destruction.
But let us also set aside the equally infectious, equally destructive delusion that our differences are a problem to be solved, that the solution to our many problems is a color-blind society where, as Stephen Colbert so brilliantly satirizes, we "don't see race." Such a dream is just as harmful as rank prejudice, for they both work on the same logic. It is better to be the same than to be different.
For Christians, nothing could be further from the truth.
Editor's Note: ON Scripture - The Bible is a series of Christian scripture commentaries produced in collaboration with Odyssey Networks. Each week pastors from around the country will approach the lectionary text of the week through the lens of current events, providing a religious voice that is both pastoral and prophetic.
Follow Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ericbarreto
Acts 2:1-21 NIV - The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost - Bible Gateway
oremus Bible Browser : Acts 2:1-21
It was around 25 years later that Peter and the first gentile~the Roman centurion Cornelius hooked up via visions.
So what am I trying to say, Christ can care less of the diversity of flesh~ but what he does care about~ is that there cannot be a diversity of spirit~ for there is but one Spirit~ thus meaning that though their are a multitude of folk who diversely occupy any given Sunday a church building~only those who are being led by the Spirit of God is who God claims as to being His Children.
Thus meaning that the world is on schedule as to becoming " like it was in days of Noah~so shall it be when Christ will return days" you know those when the love of men will wax cold etc, days!
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
"Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man" John 8:15.
Man has the phenomenal ability to "perceive" the wrong in others but perceives "not" his own wrongs. In my opinion. But that's why GOD "is" GOD...and man ain't. Thank you for your time. Life.
Thank you for these words.
So, for example, I truly believe that we should treat people of all races the same. This is loving your neighbor, and there is no inherent sin in being born of any particular race (outside of the original sin of the Fall).
However, diversity attempts to justify that which the bible considers to be sin. This is different than loving the sinner but rejecting the sin. The demands of the sinner under the banner of diversity are not only to love the sinner, but the sin as well.
It is a fine line, but perhaps an important one, because we must not judge, but at the same time, we are not to embrace sin.
As it says in Psalm 139:17, this is how I feel God see each and everyone of us:
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! God thinks wonderful thoughts about you all the time. He looks inside you and sees your real value.
I wish everyone knew this. They will one day.
Would not a heavenly language sound to people like their own language?
WRONG
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: Jn. 20:22.
If you would like to know what the Spirit of Wisdom LOOKS like, see it here.
http://napoleonlive.info/see-the-evidence/judas-the-galilean-and-his-unterbrink-writings-2/
It won't open in Safari.
Same with racism. Scientists who created the theory of races of humans wrote, "Color of skin is not an indicator of race." There is no "white" race. That evolved from when white people didn't labor outside to white collar workers to a pejorative racist label. The way we use racial epithets, they have pejorative bigoted meanings. This, too, is being exploited by politicians because it works.
The God of the Israelites instituted Separation of Church and State and Jesus Christ practiced it.
But it seems no human can keep them separate this election, they just deny that they are.
Maybe it's because they're inseparable in the eyes of God, and man's attempts to separate them are being proven futile.
From my perspective, even though I identify as a Christian and love the liturgy of the Episcopal Church, I don't believe that my way is the only way. I don't have a problem with Islam, with Buddhism, with anybody, as long as the institution or tradition respects the rights of other folks to believe and worship differently. I believe we all are in search of the same God, no matter what we name him; and we are all in the same boat here in this life, trying to do the best we can.
We don't have to pretend we are the same, but we don't have to make those who are different so "other" that they are considered less than, unworthy, evil, or whatever other negative label you can come up with. As Rodney King said, "Can't we all get along?"
Like attracts like, differences often create fear and judgement.