The word prejudice has two parts: pre (in advance) and judicium (judgment). Therefore, prejudice is to prejudge a person or a matter before getting any of the facts. Nowhere is prejudice more prevalent than in matters of race and ethnicity. Some judge people based on the color of their skin or their ethnicity before they even know them.

Prejudice is not a modern sin; it existed in Jesus’ day. The Jews in Galilee and Judea were prejudiced against the Samaritans because they (the Samaritans) had intermarried with Assyrians following the Assyrian invasion of Israel in the eighth century B.C. Jews refused to even set foot in Samaria—except for Jesus and His disciples. On a journey from Judea to Galilee, Jesus went through Samaria where He encountered a woman to whom He revealed Himself as the Messiah, the Source of living water (John 4). Jesus saw humans in need of God’s love, not races or genders or status.

Pray for the ability to see the world through Jesus’ eyes. Share Him just as He shared Himself—without prejudice and with love.

Water and oil are more compatible than Christianity and prejudice. 

William A. Ward