Privilege

Texts: Philippians 3 and The Gospel of Mary

Paul is working out what it means to have privilege. He knows who he is in his society, what it gains him, and how to use it. He also knows that his privilege is a contrived notion of his religious, political, and civic culture. His Christian belief leads him to the conclusion that all his perceived superiority is bunk - it's meaningless. But he acknowledges it's there and he knows where he fits into the system.

Andrew and Peter seem clueless. They don't get that they are speaking out of their privilege as a men in their culture. They might not realize just what that gains them because unlike Paul, they don't have pedigrees and education and wealth. I'm sure they had many of the things that Paul cites as his own, such as circumcision and being born a Hebrew of Hebrews, but they do not have everything. That doesn't let them off the hook though. Being mindless about where you fit into society and how that works for you is not what Jesus taught. Peter and Andrew seem to believe that Jesus abides by the hierarchy that is in place. That Jesus might have confided in a woman is simply unthinkable. It offends them. It confuses them. And it makes them mad.

Levi gets it, that there is no harm done to him as a man if the Savior confided in Mary and not in him. He speaks up for Mary. He uses his voice as a man to confront another man. He hears the words of Mary, honors them, does not add to them or make excuses for her having them instead of him, and he calls out Peter specifically and Andrew by implication, on their privilege and their oppression.

Mary, although she cried, did not discount what she said. She did not apologize or imply that maybe she hadn't got it right. She seems a little baffled that Peter and Andrew are attacking her relationship with Jesus and the knowledge that she has. She's upset, and she may not be responding as assertively as I wish she was, but she isn't backing down.

Paul is not backing down either. There are people who are cutting him down, lying about him, and doing so, apparently, based on their claims of who they are compared with who he is. Paul cites all the reasons that he could be given more status, or at least equal status, with his challengers, and then he says that all that stuff doesn't really matter. It is easier for a person with privilege to call themselves out and be heard by someone of their same privilege than it is for a person without privilege to call out someone who has privilege. Those of us who have privilege of any kind need to acknowledge what it is and then lay it down like Paul does here, and like Paul said Jesus did. Back in the 2nd chapter of this letter to the Philippians Paul wrote this:

Phil 2:4 - 8 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.

It is not the responsibility of the oppressed to teach the oppressor that they are being exploited and abused because of privilege. The responsibility usually lands on the oppressed to teach this, but it isn't right. According to Paul, Jesus knew he was "in the form of God" and yet Jesus did not act like God. He sought out solidarity with those who were being oppressed and he chose to fight on their behalf that way. Paul is taking a stab to do the same thing.

I think it's important to look at the difference between the solidarity model of action and the saviour model of action. Jesus is called the Saviour, but his action plan was more that of solidarity. He didn't swoop into a situation, taking away the agency of the person being oppressed and "save" them. He asked the oppressed person what they wanted and he provided what he could. When he stuck up for people that the system was crushing, he did so not by fixing the situation but by revealing the nature of the oppression. Jesus was a really smart guy. I don't know that I can attain to that level of insight or strength. I do know that the way he modeled being a saviour was unlike the way it is usually done.

When it is said that someone has a messiah complex or a saviour complex it means that a person is out to fix everything, using their own power and being willing to destroy themselves in the process. I don't actually think this is what Jesus did. Yes, he died for what he believed and for what he did, but he did so not because he was out to fix everything, but because he was out to reveal what we wrong.

Let's take an account of our privilege, in the spirit of Paul. List all the ways in which you can claim some kind of status. Are you white? Are you a man? Do you have an education? Are you able-bodied? Are you straight? Do you have money?

If you are white, don't not be white, but be white differently. If you are a man, don't not be a man, but be a man differently. If you have an education, don't give up your education, but be educated differently. How can we live differently - mindfully - knowing who we are and where we plug in to the system; not denounce or be ashamed of the advantages that we have, but instead seek solidarity with those we could easily oppress just by the shear fact of some accident of birth.

The privileges that we have here are manufactured. Paul knew that. Jesus knew that. So while the privileges that we experience, even enjoy, are not real on any essential level, they are real in the fundamental working out of our every day lives. By virtue of my white skin I have access to shopping in stores of all kinds, walking alone in parks, and attaining services without a hitch. By virtue of my being female-bodied, most of the time I do not have access to walking alone in a park at night or getting the same pay for the same work as a male-bodied person.

Think about who you are and where you fit in. This is not an exercise for shame or arrogance. This is a way to follow Jesus. Recognizing that I am white and listening to the stories of people of colour help me to be in solidarity with my siblings of colour because I know better what privileges I gain by virtue of my skin and I know more what my siblings are denied by virtue of their skin. This is important.

Too often we don't notice how concerned we are with losing our status. Like Peter we become confounded when someone who is clearly not at our level knows something or can do something that should be ours to know or do. How can we be more like Levi than Peter? How can we be a voice to speak up against those who are fighting for their own status and power?

Levi said, "Peter, you always angry." Levi called out Peter on his anger and his assumptions. He did so without taking away Mary's agency. This is something that is a challenge to learn how to do. It's much more automatic to be ashamed of our privilege, to try to deny it, or to swoop in and save someone who is being ridiculed or hated. It takes more thought to act simply and without an investment in the self. Calling out Peter was a simple act, but a profound one.

As we go through our days we hear people saying all kinds of things and doing all kinds of things. We can learn to listen to the prevalent speech and action patterns of those who have privilege and also learn to listen and believe the words of those who are oppressed in our world. When we do this, we have a better chance of learning how to live in solidarity with our siblings who endure oppression, to notice the systematic way in which we are divided from one another, and the inroads to calling out oppression when we see it. We can be like Levi. It will take thought and compassion, but we can do it.