Dr. Bracy Asks: What Would Jesus Do?
B eginning with the text from Luke 10:25-37, Dr. Randolph Bracy began his message discussing the conversa- tion between Jesus and "a certain lawyer" questioning what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Dr. Bracy pointed out that Jesus asked the lawyer what did the he know about the law on this matter. Verse 27 states “and he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” Having answered correctly Jesus said if that if the lawyer did this, he would live. But, as verse 29 states, the lawyer went further, asking Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Dr. Bracy then took the congregation through the parable of the Good Samaritan: 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, go, and do thou likewise. In framing his message around the theme: What Would Jesus Do?, Dr. Bracy reminded the congregation that “We live in some perilous times.” He discussed that everyone is looking for answers to the troubling questions in their daily lives. "Those who believed that a post-racial society was achieved as evidenced by the election of President Obama received a rude awakening in the first year of the 45 th president’s term," stated Bracy. He then “called the roll” related to the retrenchment in the disregard of the lives of Black people. Beginning with a discussion of the disparate impact of Stand Your Ground—the law that eliminates the duty of retreat and permits the use of deadly force to anyone who perceives danger in Florida. Beginning with the Travon Martin case in Sanford, Florida Dr. Bracy reminded the congregation of the deaths of Phi- lander Castile, Dontre Hamilton, Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Donte Parker, Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray. “I could go on but you get the point. When I listen to the rag-tag rhetoric of President #45, Donald John Trump in blasting the theme Make America Great Again over and over and over again, I’ve come to the conclusion that what is being said means different things to different people.” He then talked about the president's mantra vis à vis People of Color's understanding of the phrase and juxtaposed it with the tenets of the Pledge of Allegiance and how we must work to ensure its meaning for all Americans equally. Dr. Bracy then began to set the stage by weaving his theme to the scripture. He reminded the congregation that it was the late Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor (Alpha Phi 1938, Chapter Invisible 1997), pastor of the Abyssinian Church of Harlem, New York whom Dr. Bracy recalls making the point that any time one sees the phrase “a certain man (or a certain woman) in Scripture you can take that generality and make it a particularity. You could take the liberty of inserting yourself in the story and make the story you hear your story.” He encouraged the congregation to notice in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus used the word “certain” three times. “He says, ‘A certain man went down from Jerusalem,‘ ‘a certain priest and a Levite‘ and ‘a certain man of Samaria,’” encouraging the audience to follow Dr. Proctor’s admonition in understanding this parable by placing themselves in each of these roles. Then ask: what
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