Those new to lobsters are likely to think that they are all of one color: red. Not so! There are blue, yellow, spotted, brown, olive, calico, and cotton-candied-color lobsters. However, when steamed they all turn red because that is the most stable pigment in a lobster’s coloring. The other pigments are destroyed in cooking.
And they all taste the same. Color does not matter, gender does not matter, and size does not matter. Hard-shell, soft-shell, summer, winter, months with and without an “r” … does not matter. They all taste the same, delicious, in my opinion!
Turns out those human beings are the same. No, no, I am not a cannibal! We are all members of the same species, Homo sapiens. And there are no consistent markers or characteristics that allow us to break down the species into smaller biological categories. Biologists have concluded that there is no such thing as race! Different colors of skin, yes … different ethnicities and tribes, yes … all sorts of heights and weights, yes. But none of those characteristics are sufficiently consistent to allow us to separate humans into so-called “races.”
The notion that people came from different races, some superior to others, was an idea developed in the 17th century. It has since been expanded by particular races to support that race’s power and dominance over the rest. In the Bible races are never mentioned. The whole idea of race had not been invented. What mattered in Biblical times were tribe, clan, religion and god, status, and nation. Except for followers of Jesus … Paul had it right when he wrote to the Galatians (3:26b-28, NRSV):
… for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
We are all creations of God and can be adopted children of God by faith in our Savior, Jesus the Christ.
Racism is a sin … it separates us from God and from each other. Establishing a set of categories to divide ourselves from one another and then declaring that one such category is better than all the others has proved to be a persistent sin and a pervasive one. It has been used to justify war, genocide and extermination of whole populations, slavery, segregation, and all sorts of discriminatory laws and social mores, often against refugees and immigrants.
Although racism is a recent invention in human history, it has proved difficult to dislodge. Its effects are taking a lot of time and resources to overcome. A major long-term effect on both victim and oppressor is deep suspicion and mistrust by all parties, even suspicion of well-intentioned efforts to combat and eliminate racism.
There is no support in Christianity for racism. We are God’s, precious to God … each and every one of us.