Some of us
know that, without a doubt, the TV series 'Psych' is
the greatest show of all time.
A few of us may
know that, this Sunday evening the 15th, the long awaited 2 hour monumental
'Psych' musical will be aired on USA at 9/8 Central whaaaaaat?
But practically none of us,
however, know that James Roday (also known as Shawn Spencer), is half
Mexican. WHAT!?!
...Yep. It's a true story, even if you never would
have guessed it.
James David Rodriguez (not to be confused with his
awesome namesake/Colombian soccer super-star mid-fielder James David
Rodriguez Rubio), was born in San Anotnio, TX to a multiracial couple.
The son of Jim Rodriguez (a pure Mexican/Air Force
Veteran/Taco Cabana Regional Manager/ former High School Principal); James Roday
gives off the impression of being a goofy/spontaneous/psychic/white boy in his
murder mystery comedy 'Psych', but really isn't. He's a professionally focused,
and hard working half Mexican actor/screen writer who is living his life's dream; while making millions in the process.
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| James Roday with his dad and sister |
But the fact that he's a racial "miti-miti"
(or in other words a "half and half"), as well as a psychic... these 2 factors made me think of a
correlation between him and one of the most surprisingly anti-stereo-typical
stories in the Bible.
This is the story about Jesus talking with a
marginalized Samaritan woman at a well somewhere in-between Judea and Galilee (John 4), and the reason why
Shawn Spencer makes me think of this story is because (like a Samaritan), he's
kind of like a "half breed" too, and just like Jesus who knows everything - Shawn Spencer tries to act like a psychic himself.
That may be a really crazy correlation to come up with, but I honestly came up with it, and I think that's probably just because the
other day in our mid-week Hispanic Bible Study, Ben Jimenez expounded on John
chapter 4, and with my anticipation of 'Psych the Musical', I think somewhere
along the way, my mind just put both of these intriguing multi-racial story
lines together.
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| Ben Explaining John 4 |
While Ben explained to the hodgepodge group of racially confused American residents like Carmelo, Emily, Gonzalo, Raymond,
himself and I*, that Samaritans were the socially unacceptable half-breeds that
Jews generally avoided; he also described Jesus - the
unconventional/anti-prejudiced/loving Messiah who seemed to intentionally
arrange a meeting with this fascinating young lady (should I also say attractive?), who probably had more than a
couple reasons for which she was discriminated against (v. 18).
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| *Hodgepodge of racially confused American residents (with exception of Allison, the girl in the middle, who I'm pretty sure knows where she comes from). |
And somewhere in the middle of this digressing conversation, Jesus
psychically (or sovereignly, rather) knows that this woman had previously
been married 5 times and is currently living with a man to whom she wasn't. Regardless, Jesus engages with this woman in one of the most significant
conversations found in the whole New Testament.
...And trying to connect this story back to 'Psych' again haha, I can
just picture Jesus in verse 17 and 18 when the woman tells him she has no
husband, responding with something like, "I've heard it both ways", when
he replies:
"You are
right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five
husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true" (NIV).
But the main thing about this passage that I think
the Samaritan woman was so impressed by is that Jesus truly knew who she was (v. 29)...
and that his knowledge of her did not alter his unconditional acceptance of,
and outlandish respect, towards her... That despite her frowned upon
history and heritage - Jesus valued her and dignified her in a way that I'm
sure no one ever had.
So what about you? How many licentious women have
you shared the gospel with?
How many racially "complicated" people have
you recently sat down to drink a bottle of beer or a glass of pop with?
It would be one thing if I were talking about James
Roday or Dulé Hill who are both super cool racial minority super-stars... but what
about the ones that live in your own home town that you kind-of disregard?
...In the picture below there are 3 different
guys that came to our Bible Study on Wednesday night that each represent 3 different
levels of "political legitimacy"; and I want to ask you: Which of them
deserves to get to know Jesus the most? Ricardo (the boy standing in the red
jacket who is a half Mexican but born in the States?); Gonzalo (the
improperly documented and some would say "illegal" Mexican who works
downtown?); or Giovanni (the cute
little boy standing in the gray jacket who is the son of Gonzalo, but who was also born in the US?).
If you answered that the 2 kids deserve to get to know Jesus more than Gonzalo does, then
you make me sick... And if you answered that they all equally deserve to get to know Jesus all across the board - than I like you a lot more, but you're still
wrong.
However, if your answer is that none of them (or
any of us!) deserve to get to know Jesus at all; but only because of Jesus' friendship and love towards all mankind that was made evident on the cross (John 15:13), then we can all confidently and unabashedly approach God through Christ's mediation (Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:25-26)... If that's your answer - that none of us, no matter who, or where, or with what... none of us deserve to get to know Jesus at all; but only (and I mean only), because of his wonderful grace that he poured out on every one of us at the cross... then we are all free to do so... If that's your answer - that it's by grace alone that we are saved through faith (Ephesians 2:4-9), then you're dead on... You're completely dead on, and I congratulate you for your unbiased understanding of the only true gospel of Christ; the only one with such great implications for all mankind.
And whether or not James Roday even cares that he's semi-Latino, I really don't know; but at least I think it's pretty cool.
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Pictures and Works Cited:
