"The Way It Is" is a song recorded by Bruce Hornsby and the Range from their 1986 album The Way It Is. It topped the charts in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands in 1986, and peaked inside the top twenty in such countries as Ireland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Written by Bruce Hornsby, it made explicit reference to the American Civil Rights Movement. The song portrays 1980s America from a critical perspective. The opening verse recounts a story taking place at a line for welfare that illustrate a divide between the rich and poor. The chorus presents several lines insisting that social ills are "just the way it is", and repeatedly suggests resigning oneself to them as a fact of life—however, the chorus ends with the author rebuking this attitude by insisting "but don't you believe them." The second verse recounts past social issues from the voice of someone supporting racial segregation. The author responds in a narrative voice, insisting his view that if those who make laws took them into careful consideration they would be convinced that laws enforcing principles like racial segregation are morally wrong. The song reminds the listener that it was at one time argued that racial segregation was "just the way it is", and suggests that legislation and what the author views as progress on current social issues should be pursued without regard to those who insist "some things will never change." The third verse recounts the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a victory in the civil rights movement, but insists that more is needed. In particular, the verse highlights individual prejudice and employment discrimination as an enduring form of racism. The third chorus suggests that it only feels like "some things will never change" when we wait for social problems to change themselves rather than taking steps ourselves to actively change them.
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old lady's eyes
Just for fun he says, "Get a job."
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
Ah, but don't you believe them
Said hey, little boy, you can't go where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way?
And did you really think about it before you made the rules?
He said, son
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
Ah, but don't you believe them, yeah
That's just the way it is
That's just the way it is
Well, they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
'Cause the law don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar, no
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
That's just the way it is, it is, it is, it is
Over the last few days we have been looking at "The Parable Of The Good Samaritan" that Jesus told. This parable is recoreded by Luke in his gospel - chapter 10. This morning we will be looking at the characters in the story more closely. With the exception of the Samaritan's action, what happened in this story sadly was an every day occurance, you could say that this is "The Way It Is" from the basis of this story as we project it out into this world we see indifference and enmity at every turn in the road. We may lift up our hands and say "Somethings will never change" lets look at the story and dig a bit deeper this morning.
The characters of the story were going down from Jericho in the Jordan Valley to Jerusalem, which is in the high Country. The route consisted of a 20km road that was notoriously dangerous, long, narrow, and winding through rocky terrain, which made it easy for country robbers to hide and attack people. So it had a reputation of being dangerous for travellers up into the twentieth century. However, robbers did not attack priests or Levites due to their religious stature (who would be recognisable by their religious attire), but others were “fair game”. They stripped him (probably down to his undergarments), which is significant; since various ethnic groups wore distinctive clothing, it would hard to tell whether the man was a Jew.
Of course, one would expect the priest to be an example of godliness, love, and mercy. He had to teach the Law and pray several times daily. Jericho was a major area where priests lived when not on duty – about 12,000 priests lived there at the time. This priest may have been returning home after his period of temple service. One possible reason for not rendering help could be that priests would not want to defile themselves by touching a Gentile or a dead man (or a man about to die), or being within 2m of a dead body, in obedience to religious laws of personal cleanliness. Under the Mosaic Law, touching or being near a dead person made one ceremonially unclean (Num. 19:11). Such defilement would be embarrassing for a priest returning from religious duty, and would be seen as a threat to his own spiritual purity. His “rule book” approach to spirituality excused his behaviour, and he might have even thought that he was obeying God by doing so. His system of rules trumped love of God and neighbour, and so his faith was one that did not translate to proper action.
The Levites served as helpers for priests in various temple duties. They were not under the same regulations that the priests were, so he at least stopped and looked at the victim. Perhaps because he could not identify the man as a Jew, he also decided not to get involved. The fact that Jesus cast both the priest and the Levite as antagonists or as unloving characters is not only ironic, given the religious culture where they were highly respected, but is an indictment against the hypocritical religious establishment of his day. They came upon the man “by chance”, implying they habitually travelled that road, and maybe implied that they habitually ignored other’s needs. Judaism has always upheld the sanctity of human life, and has taught that almost all the laws could be broken in order to protect life. Only the high priest would be constrained from helping under these circumstances (Lev. 21:11). Even if they believed he was already dead, they were obligated to help; providing burial for a stranger was also considered an important good deed in Judaism. The priest and the Levite may have passed by because they believed the man was not their neighbour.
The passage in Luke 10 and the Bruce Hornsby & the Range song "The Way It Is" focus our minds this morning to indifference and inhumanity. When we react to situation that we find with indifference and less than human caring then we find ourselves on the side of the priest and the levite. The gospel calls us higher (Or lower) Jesus calls for us to display humanity to all regardless of who they are. This is the real challenge. Just how much of a challenge we will see tommorow as we look at the character of the samaritan.
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