Not so quick

NAS Luke 13:31 Just at that time some Pharisees came up, saying to Him, "Go away and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You." The Pharisees (keepers, protectors and teachers of the law in Jesus' time) get a bad wrap most of the time. They plotted to overthrow Jesus' movement. They questioned Jesus at every turn and every opportunity. But here we see some of the Pharisees actually helping Jesus by warning that Herod was looking to kill Jesus. When we quickly prejudge based on stereotypes, past experience, or a few bad eggs, we lose. How often does this happen in our own lives? We quickly place people into holes based on age, race, educational background etc, etc. Here is a great quote from a 60 minute interview with Condi Rice which shows exactly what happens when we as a society judge a segment of the population. Today, living in an elegant apartment at the Watergate complex in Washington and afforded all the luxuries as Secretary of State, Condi Rice, a descendant of slaves, has never forgotten the experiences of her childhood. How did it shape her world view? "Well, growing up in the South and having people underestimate you because one of the reasons for segregation, one of the reasons for the separation of the races was supposedly, the inferiority of one race to the other," she explains. "And so when I look around the world and I hear people say, 'Well, you know, they're just not ready for democracy,' it really does resonate. I hear echoes of, well, you know, blacks are kind of childlike. They really can't handle the vote. Or they really can't take care of themselves. It really does roil me. It makes me so angry because I think there are those echoes of what people once thought about black Americans." People are people. Relationships are relationships. May we strive this day to look deep inside a person and not stop at the veneer.