Please bear with me this week as I do a little Bible study. Please don’t stop reading; I think this is really important.
In the last few weeks I have been seeing many Biblical references to the Parable of the Lost Sheep (found in Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15:3-7) and the Black Lives Matter (BLM). The upshot in both gospels is that a shepherd has 100 sheep, one of them gets lost and the shepherd leaves the 99 to go find the one. First, this is not what the parable is about. The parable is about how people are restored to right relationship with God. Second, it reinforces some unconscious and subconscious prejudices we bring to the text.
In Matthew’s version, the teaching attributed to Jesus begins with words about children. In biblical times, children were symbols of the most vulnerable ones in society. There are a lot of people, however, who do not know that, and a subtlety of the text is lost.
In Luke’s version, the teaching attributed to Jesus skips the vulnerable children and jumps right into the story. It ends with, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 persons who need no repentance.”
For some, the BLM is the one sheep that is the response to the saying, “All Lives Matter.” The argument is that all people don’t matter until black lives matter the same as white lives. For example, the National Cathedral website says, “This week, the interpretation of the parable has shown that black people represent the sheep that Jesus urges us to go find. Here the ninety-nine sheep left behind represent ‘all lives matter.’ But Jesus says yes, but right now black lives matter. They are the one sheep and I am going to go bring them back.”
There are, however, some more troubling undercurrents. There is a subtle assumption that black people are lost. They are not. They do not need anyone to come and rescue them. In both versions the shepherd is going to be the knight in shining armor. Of course, you pictured a blond, blue haired white guy for the shepherd. Truth is, there were no white people in the bible. In Luke’s version, the addition of a line about who is righteous and who is a sinner reinforces the notion that black people are the sinners.
Using this text as a biblical framework for Black Lives Matters is flawed. The story line itself is not helpful. Further, there is a paternalism in the text that may be appropriate for shepherds and sheep, but not for the relationship between blacks and whites. Unconscious white paternalism is reinforced when this text is used.
There is another biblical story that is much better suited to the situation at hand. It is the parable of the widow and the unjust judge found in Luke 18:1-8. You can read it HERE. The upshot of the story is that the judge had no regard for anyone and ignored the widow. (In biblical times widows, along with children, were symbols of the most vulnerable members of society. Women were prohibited from working, and had no way to support themselves when their husbands died. They were the poorest of the poor.) The widow kept banging on the door and asking for what was rightfully hers. Eventually, because of the widow’s persistent asking, the judge finally grants her request.
Black people have been asking for 300 years. We are the unjust judge who has no regard and ignores the pleas of those who are in need of justice. The Black Lives Matter movement is yet another attempt for people of color to get what is rightfully theirs: equal wages, housing and opportunity. It is way past time to give it to them.
Black Lives Matter joins other Black Social Movements including:
- Founding of the NAACP (1909-2012) W.E. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells founded it to try and use the courts to overturn Jim Crow Laws.
- The Harlem Renaissance (1917-1930) Langston Hughes founded this organization in Harlem and it spread into Europe. The goal was to challenge racism through literature, art and music.
- Brown vs. Board of Education (1945) Overturned “separate but equal.”
- Congress on Racial Equality (1942-1968) Led by James Farmer, the goal was desegregating Chicago schools. It later expanded to include other black social movements.
- The founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957-2012) Founded by Martin Luther King, Jr, the SCLC encouraged non-violent direct action with a religious emphasis.
- The March on Washington (August 28, 1962) Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
- Freedom Schools (1964) Ella Baker taught non-violent direct action.
- Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964)
- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (April 1964) Challenged the white-only Democratic Party.
- The Civil Rights Act (July 2, 1964) Outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities as well as women.
- The Selma to Montgomery March (1965)
- The Voting Rights Act (August 6, 1965)
- The events of the Black Power Movement (1966-1972)
- Black Feminism (1973-present)
- Political Activism
- International Activism
- Black Lives Matter (2013-Present)
The voices of marginalized black and brown people have been asking for what is rightfully theirs for years. It is time to listen and change the social and political constructs that keep racism in place.
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The Irreverent Reverend 
Lots to think about with this one … you have a distinct way of making one stop, listen and learn.
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Lots to think about with this one … you do have that unique ability to make one stop, listen and learn.
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Unfortunately Brown v. Board was not an anti-racist judgement. It was anti segregation but upheld, even mandated assimilation racism. Thus a well performing magnet school in Hartford was threatened with closure because it didn’t attract enough white students to teach the students of color how to be white
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Good blog! Very well put!
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This was an interesting and challenging essay, one I have thought about quite a bit over the past few days since I first read it. I have read it over several times since. These are some of the thoughts that have come to me as I have reflected on it.
It is of course true that the parable was not originally a means of understanding that Black Lives Matter. But during the time in my life when a worship service included a sermon, I have always understood, to some extent or other, that the stories in the Bible are not just an account of what happened in the lives of people who lived many years ago, but just as much or even more a way for us to understand and appreciate how God works in our lives today. Being in “right relationship with God” is not possible if one is not, at the same time, in right relationship with others, so I feel it is appropriate, even necessary, to expand the original intention of the story to include matters that are connected to its earlier purpose.
The history of this country, when told completely and honestly, shows us that it is not inaccurate to say black people have been and are “lost” in terms of opportunities lost, dignity lost, freedom lost, achievements lost, lives lost. Does this mean that black people therefore need to be “rescued” by a “blond, blue eyed white guy” as though black people are helpless to do anything about their situation until someone smarter and stronger comes along to save them from their plight?
I think at this point it’s important to keep in mind that Jesus wasn’t talking about actual sheep in this parable any more than he was talking in another parable about actual seeds falling on different types of actual ground, some ground more receptive to the growth of seeds than other patches of ground. So I think we’re missing the point if we focus on comparing the shepherd to the sheep when we have already gotten the idea that Jesus is talking to and about people then and now. Getting stuck on the analogy of Shepherd is to Sheep as White People are to Black People keeps us in a literal mode of thinking and once that happens with any parable, we’ve missed what the parable is really telling us.
To me, the parable of the widow and the unjust judge more overtly demonstrates “unconscious white paternalism” than the parable of the lost sheep. In this parable the widow finds herself in a situation where she has to “ask” a person in authority, a judge, to grant her what was “rightfully hers.” The arbitrary nature of the judge’s decision is rooted in paternalism that says he has the power to determine whether a woman should be allowed to claim the property that would allow her to live her life independently. He held all the cards; her fate was entirely in his hands. And he didn’t relent because it was the right thing to do, he was just tired of her bugging him. He had total control over her. That’s textbook paternalism.
Applying that parable to the present day, why should a black man or woman, with hat in hand and beaming a friendly smile, have to approach a white man who has the paternalistic power to relinquish or retain control over what rightfully belongs to him and ASK for what is “rightfully his”? The scenario presented by this parable reinforces and perpetuates the unjust status of inequality that has always placed the white man in a position of authority and power over the black man. That’s the history of America. And we know what will happen eventually to a black man who raises a ruckus outside the home of a white man. That’s the story of America too.
In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd doesn’t go looking for the lost sheep because he is “asked” to do so. He realizes, as the one who has the power to intercede for good, that he is the one with the responsibility to act when action becomes necessary. The sheep was lost on his watch and when he finally wakes up and realizes that, he responds accordingly. Applying this parable to our own circumstances, we must acknowledge that the white power structure is the reason why some of America’s “sheep” have been lost since 1619 and are still in many ways still lost today. Black Lives Matter is the wake-up call for white America to realize that it’s time to get up and do what needs to be done to restore all of us wholly to the fold.
David Madden
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Thank you so much for your thoughtful reflection. I have some pondering to do.
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