Quick recap: On Tuesday we sat with the Good Samaritan — how Jesus made the despised outsider the hero, how the religious insiders passed by for reasons we still use, and how we become whole when we see ourselves in every character. Today we bring it into the body, to the fast, automatic place where we sort people into safe and unsafe.
Our nervous systems are sorting machines. In a fraction of a second, before conscious thought, the body decides: safe, or not safe? Us, or them? That reflex kept our ancestors alive, and it isn’t evil. But when it’s been trained by a fear-based faith — taught that whole categories of people are threats — it fires when it shouldn’t, and it fires at people who are simply different, not dangerous. Today we don’t shame the reflex. We just gently teach it that it doesn’t always have to run the show.
