Bias and Jesus

In the first day of my Italian class, I saw that I have many classmates who are Muslims. They speak Arabic to each other. I was a bit hesitant to look at them and be close to them. Moreover, I have felt some fear. I have heard a lot through media that they cannot be trusted. They are all the same and terroristic. Though I am from Mindanao and have known good Muslims, I cannot deny the fact that international news really affected my way of thinking towards Muslims, especially Muslims from the Middle-east. I have never been in a situation where they outnumbered Christians in a class. Mind you I have always thought I have no more bias towards Muslims, but I found out I still have it in me.
However, after some weeks I was able to communicate and chat with them and my biases towards them slowly diminished. One Muslim even told me that I am a good man because of the way I related to him. I did not understand it at first because he said it in Arabic, but the other Muslim who knows English translated it for me. During the enrollment of our language course for the following month, I found myself short of money to pay the fee. My Muslim classmate saw that I am at a lost, and asked me what the problem is. I told him my problem, and he said “no problem”. He lent me some money, and I was really grateful for his kindheartedness. We are not classmates now, but every time we see each other, we shake each others’ hands and greet each other in Italian.
Bias is real in each one of us. It is a personal and often unreasoned judgment for or against another person, another group, another tribe, another race, another nation, or another religion. We have it, and sometimes we are victims of these biases. Our minds have underlying structures developed through time and could have some bias towards someone, something and someplace. Even Jesus in the Gospel today did not escape from bias. We know that Jesus grew in Nazareth. In the Gospel, Nazareth is usually associated with something that is not good. Maybe we can think of a place in our time that we tagged us something not good. In the Philippines, the so called “squatters’ area”, is known to be the place of lawless element. But my exposure to these areas taught me otherwise. Bias towards Nazareth must have made Nathanael in Gospel to say, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Being told by Philip that Jesus is from Nazareth, Nathanael must have thought it as a joke. But Nathanael gave it a try to go to Jesus. “Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!’" The subject of bias (Jesus) reached out to the one who has a bias (Nathanael). Jesus made Nathanael feel important. Jesus seemed to show him that he knew him before hand.
What do you feel when you learn that someone you do not know knows you? You might be surprise, but deep within you can be asking why this person knows me. Much more when that person is someone many people look up to. You might also ask like Nathanael, "How do you know me?" This response of Nathanael is something deeper than asking “how did you know my name?” This signifies that Nathanael acknowledges Jesus’ words as deeper than knowing his name. Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." This changes Philips bias. This Jesus noticed him, and the reason he was called by Philip is because Jesus saw him before. Jesus gave him importance. Philip who must be a prayerful person discerned immediately who Jesus is. He responded by saying "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" This is what happens when real encounter happens. They can see the goodness of each other. If Nathanael did not give it a try to meet Jesus, he wouldn’t have known that what he had been waiting for has already arrived.

Friends, sometimes conflict starts not because there is a real problem. Sometimes it happens because we have biases. Biases are judgment we make even before we encounter the person. Sometimes it is the product of our previous experience with someone or something. Most often it is simply something that was told to us. I have read from one of John Powell’s book that you cannot love the person you do not see. This is what happens when we have biases. We are not seeing the person but looking at the person with our biased eyeglasses. The person does not exist in our mind, only our bias represents the person. It is always important to have an encounter. Knowing a person does not simply means knowing about the person. Jesus made it a point that he has an encounter with Nathanael. He must have asked Philip to invite Nathanael. It is interesting that Jesus invited most if not all of his apostles to have an encounter with him.
I believe that conflicts arise in the Middle-east because there is no real encounter. Their encounters are mostly in the battlefield. They use guns, rockets, missiles and other harmful things. They let the point of a gun talk more than they real concern for each other. Much more their bias to one another is the biggest stumbling block. They cannot progress if they always have in mind that the other will always try to hurt the other.

Let us learn from Jesus. We diminished our biases by real and life-giving encounters. Conflicts in the society and even in the families turn into hatred when there is no real encounter. Each of us came from different backgrounds and knowing that can help us why a person thinks and acts in a certain manner. We therefore need to have real encounter. Encounters that is life-giving and not death-dealing. We bracket our biases, and encounter the person. Today is different from yesterday, and tomorrow maybe different from today.

Every day, even if we do not believe, Jesus continues to reach out to us in so many ways. His presence in the Eucharist, in the people we meet, in nature and the like is all over the place. Jesus notices us every day. Let us tear down our biases by allowing Christ to enter into our lives. By doing so, we may be enlightened and be freed from our biases in encountering others as well.
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” I suppose you know the answer. Have a good day.