Breaking Bread Together: Christian Potential as Solution to Polarizing Politics
The Reverend Dr. Jason Curry
The story of the legendary, basketball athlete Scottie Pippen prior to his career as a professional athlete is unconventional at best. Scottie Pippen, like a handful of other professional athletes, was not an outstanding college athlete. Pippen was undersized and he didn’t play basketball for a college that was recognized as an athletic powerhouse. However, Pippen worked diligently to improve his offensive and defensive skills as a small forward and he grew seven inches before being drafted by the Chicago Bulls. Pippen was drafted largely because of his potential as opposed to his output has a college athlete. The Chicago Bulls’ investment in Pippen’s potential eventually led to the culmination of a hall of fame athlete who was recognized as one of the most impactful players of all time.
Jesus was also concerned about the potential of humanity rather than humanity as expressed in its present state. Mark 2 tells the story of dinner that took place between Jesus, tax collectors, sinners and his disciples. Generally speaking, the scribes and Pharisee’s of Jesus’ day did not eat with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus ate with them because he recognized their humanity (i.e., people created in the image of God), as well as their potential. As the leader of this relatively new, Christian movement, Jesus recognized that the sinners and tax collectors had the potential to accept him as Lord and Savior, the potential to spread the Gospel, the potential to build community with people who opposed them (e.g., scribes and Pharisee) and the potential to change the course of human history. In response to the rebuke of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus stated: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Matthew 2:17).”
Jesus’ example of breaking bread with people who were extremely unpopular in his day provides a model for humanity. A polarization often exists among family members, within communities and amongst the body politic on the local, state and national level because of a myopia that limits the present and fails to recognize the potential in others. The Gospel story of our redemption tells us that people are not always what they can become. Since there is no limit to human potential, we must recognize it, embrace it and use it as a catalyst to improve families, communities and nations as well as ourselves.
