For several years I was privileged to enjoy fellowship with an older Christian at church and in a Homegroup. One of his qualities that I admired and appreciated was his defence of the “underdog” and linked to that, his dislike of generalisations.
When we first moved to our current area and because we had two young children, we thought it easier to get to know those in our “new church” by inviting them to our home for Sunday tea. On one occasion, an older couple had only been seated for a few minutes and somehow our conversation turned to Nicodemus. One of the visitors commented, using a familiar phrase, “Of course, Nicodemus came at night because he was afraid of being seen”. My response, “There is nothing in the Bible to support that” caused a few moments of tension before normal conversation was restored. A little study will show that he was probably a busy man, and the latter part of the day may have been the first opportunity or most convenient.
We are probably familiar with the reference to “Doubting Thomas”. However, he only asked the questions for which the answers had already been shown to the disciples who had met Jesus earlier. And, of course, his conversation with Jesus gave us that lovely comment, “Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed”.
In a recent phone app Bible reading, the writer referred to the Samaritan woman who met with Jesus at the well. Jesus’ reference to the number of husbands has led some preachers (at least in my youth) to refer to her as a prostitute or similar descriptions. The writer commenting on this passage suggested the reason she had so many husbands was because she was unable to have children and had been “divorced” by them – one after another.
I appreciate in these comments there is speculation, and we may never know the answer, but I have learned that it is too easy to think wrong about a person. A comment I heard some years ago was about prejudice – Don’t bore me with the facts, I have already made up my mind!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us to avoid the danger of wrong assumptions, and even should we learn the unpleasant truth about someone, help us to love them as you do AMEN