Opus 2018-037: Middle Class Morality: Servants Are Human Too

How do you treat the waitress at your table?  When you are at a banquet, do you thank the person who takes your plate?  Do you consider people who serve you in one capacity or another to be human beings?  Do you notice them at all?

These may seem like silly questions, but they are not.  In a recent discussion someone was trying to make a case for why the wealthy elites think they know so much and are qualified to direct our lives.  It is rooted in a belief in class.  It is still prevalent in Europe and much of the third world.  Some people believe that they are inherently better than others.  It is the root of genuine racist attitudes.  It can hide behind what we call sexism today.  Some nationalism is class oriented.  The rich and the famous do not believe that you are human in the same way they are human.

In many cases they do not even notice you. 

Middle Class Morality (MCM) is based on the Biblical principle that every human being is created in the image of God.  It means they are capable of moral behavior and deserve at least the consideration that they are children of God.  It is the reason that slavery died out in Christian countries and not in the rest of the world until the Christian countries insisted.  In the New Testament book of Philemon we find the Apostle Paul sending a runaway slave back to his master.  Paul does not condemn slavery but he puts an interesting twist.  He send him back

(Philemon 1:16-17 NAS77)  no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.  If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.

Legally he is still a slave.  Theologically he is now a brother in Christ.  That does not dissolve the legal bond but demands that he be treated as a fellow child of God. 

This is just an example of the concept of what it means that all men are created equal.  As it played out we developed a culture in which common people could become president of the United States.  Think of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and yes, the ultimate outsider, Donald Trump.  None of them were considered of the ruling class.  All were elected to lead the country.

Only in America.

Viva la middle class morality.

To be continued...

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