Living in the Spirit
October 5, 2017
Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14
Even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. —Philippians 3:4b-11
White privilege is a term tossed about today as we try to deal with racial unrest and injustice in our land. It makes most of us uncomfortable eliciting a “Not me” response internally, if not externally expressed, from those of us who meet the criteria. In our scripture today, Paul is describing something similar. We might call it Pharisee privilege. Privilege is defined as a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor: special enjoyment of a good or exemption from an evil or burden. * It is not something one earns; it is more a bequeathed status. It is so much of one’s way of existing; it is taken for granted or not recognized at all.
How do we deal with that, if we truly believe that all people are children of God and thus are siblings and need to be treated with equality of respect and equity of opportunity? Paul perhaps suggests a solution in dealing with his status of Pharisee privilege. He regarded everything as a loss as he found something of surpassing value–Christ Jesus. Those of us of privilege fear we lose something if we must relinquish that which is not real in the first place. Paul insists that there is something of greater value on the other side of privilege that awaits in the love of Christ. Perhaps Jesus’ parable of the pearl of great price** has more meaning for our times than we may have thought.
Prayer: Lord, help me realize the greater value of your love for all compared to any short-sighted privilege I may experience. Forgive me when I am ignorant of wrongs in our society. Help me be a conduit of your healing love and justice. Amen.
*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/privilege
**See Matthew 13:45-46