I am often amazed at how quickly persons will rise to defend race as if I have offended a family member, a childhood friend or perhaps even a spouse when I question the authenticity of the relationship or the intentions of race for their life.  They take a sense of ownership in race, which ultimately owns them, pointing to their skin as proof of its existence as if to say, “Take my skin for it.”  Or, they bring up the latest case of an abuse of power or position, which begs the question, “Now how would you explain that?  If that’s not race, I don’t know what it is.”  But, it’s not a case of racial injustice as injustice needs no qualifier, no adjective or category to better appreciate or understanding its meaning.  It is simply injustice; it is of no consequence why we think it happened as it does not resolve the matter, lessen the pain or serve to prevent it from happening again. 

Classfying injustice does nothing more than assign meaning to what should be meaningless for what understanding can be wrought from it?  Evil is futile at least in the eyes of the believer as we believe that “we are more than conquerors through him (Jesus) who loved us” (Romans 8.37).  In the end, love wins, right?  So, why does hate get all of the attention?  Surely, it was not our beginning, neither was it the world’s as we were all created in love and by Love (I John 4.16). 

So, I was thinking about the Johannine gospel and its amazing beginning, “In the beginning was…” (1.1).  Was race with us in the beginning?   

In the beginning was race and race was with God and race was god.

The same was in beginning with God and without race was not anything made that was made.

In race was life and race was the light of men.

And the light of race shined on the dark people and they comprehended it not.

There was a race sent from God and it’s name was White…

 

When does/did our relationship with race end and our relationship with Jesus Christ begin?  How far back are we willing to go with race in our defense of it?  Was it with you in the beginning?