Breaking the Walls of Bias: How Jesus Shattered Elitism and Called Us to Follow His Lead

​An Article By Pastor Bobby

​The Root of Bias: Pride, Low Self-Esteem, and Elitism

​The Implicit Bias Theory and Evolutionary Psychology Theory essentially state that we are all born with biases and explain how these biases shape our belief systems. Having spent time in both the ministry world—with a specific focus on street ministry—and the "real world," I have seen just how true this is.

​But I believe the issue goes even deeper. At our core, we all struggle with either pride or low self-esteem, which are often two sides of the same coin. This internal struggle frequently translates into a sense of elitism. The bottom line is this: for the most part, we naturally think we are better than everyone else. Alternatively, some people suffer from self-esteem so low that they act elitist just to mask their insecurities. Ultimately, this means we all harbor biases and wrestle with the toxic desire to elevate ourselves above others.

​Before we continue, let’s briefly define what a bias actually is:

​Bias: A disproportionate weight or inclination in favor of or against an idea, thing, or group, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair.

​Bias occurs when our brains rely on mental shortcuts, stereotypes, or past experiences to make quick judgments rather than using objective logic. So many times when we think of biases, we immediately picture one group hating another group simply because of skin color. While that is definitely a bias, it is not the only type out there. You can be biased against different social classes, people in certain job fields, or individuals of different religions.

​The Trap of Spiritual Elitism

​I remember leading a recovery meeting that suddenly erupted into a massive argument. What was the fight about? Some of the participants started arguing over who was "better" within the group. For example, some of the alcoholics started saying, "Yeah, we have an addiction, but at least we aren’t as bad as the cocaine users." In turn, the cocaine users argued that they were far better off than the crack addicts. This went on for ten minutes, with everyone arguing about how their specific addiction was somehow superior to or "not as bad" as everyone else's.

​ We can draw a few lessons from that story, but I want to focus on how a sense of elitism and bias can thrive even among recovering addicts. We are all prone to this mentality. Some would argue that Christians and churchgoers are especially susceptible to it.

​ This reality is heartbreaking because Jesus broke down the walls of bias and elitism everywhere He went. Jesus showed that everyone stands on equal footing before God—whether they were women, Gentiles, Jews, or children. In this article, we are going to look at examples of how Jesus shattered biases, what we can learn from Him, how we must confront our own biases, how we can dismantle bias in the world, and why breaking these walls down ultimately glorifies God.

​When God Challenges Our Comfort Zones

​Let me share another personal story. During my freshman year of high school, I felt a distinct calling to become a pastor. The rest of my high school years were spent learning what that actually meant. In 2012, I attended a small Bible college, knowing God was calling me into ministry but unsure of the specific direction.

​Then, God intervened. One Sunday in October, I attended a Pentecostal church with a school friend. This was highly unusual for me; I grew up Baptist and non-denominational and had never stepped foot in a Pentecostal church before. It happened to be missions month, and a gentleman from Teen Challenge/World Challenge was speaking that day. Teen Challenge was founded by David Wilkerson, who started one of the very first street outreaches to gang members. I had heard of David Wilkerson before, but as I listened to this speaker, I was moved by God in a way I hadn't experienced since my initial calling. At that exact moment, I knew I was called to street ministry.

​Why do I bring this up? To be completely honest, when I received that calling, I had to confront my own deep-seated bias. It wasn't based on skin color or region, but rather a cultural divide: I was a country boy being called to the city. In my mind, city folk were evil, lazy, and ruthless. Deep down, I knew that wasn't true of everyone, but the bias was still there.

​I believe God deliberately calls us into situations that challenge our biases. Consider the story of Jonah. God called him to minister and prophesy to the Assyrians in Nineveh. Jonah knew God’s compassionate heart, and because he harbored a deep hatred and bias against the Assyrians—who had been historically brutal to the people of Israel—Jonah ran away from his calling. He fled because he knew that if he preached, God would save them and change their hearts.

​Ultimately, through a giant fish, God got His way. You cannot run from God's calling; He will pull you back to accomplish His will. He uses these situations to test our faith and obedience. To finish my own story: I pushed through my biases—or rather, God pushed me through them. I ended up ministering in Indianapolis, an experience that completely destroyed my misconceptions about city people. I share this to show a modern example of how bias operates. Now, let’s look at how Jesus systematically dismantled the biases of His era.

​The Misfits: Jesus’ Disciples

​To understand Jesus' ministry, we have to recognize that the religious leaders of His day were consumed by bias. They believed that because they were at the top of the religious hierarchy, they were superior to everyone else. This elitism trickled down to the rest of Jewish society. In contrast, Jesus consistently operated with a heart of compassion for everyone, regardless of their status.

​We see the first major example of Jesus breaking down biases in the men He chose as His twelve disciples. Typically, a rabbi would select the best, brightest, and most knowledgeable students. Jesus did the exact opposite. He called people from a wide variety of backgrounds—many of whom were looked down upon by mainstream society. Yet, these were the very individuals chosen to carry His ministry to the world.

​Peter, Andrew, James, and John: These men were fishermen, a profession considered lower-class in the ancient world, sitting just above criminals. Part of this stigma came from the fact that working with animals or animal products often made a person ceremonially unclean. Shepherds faced similar discrimination. A typical rabbi would never choose a fisherman as a disciple; they were viewed as uneducated, smelly, and unclean.

​Bartholomew: Church tradition suggests he may have also come from a fishing background, meaning at least half of the twelve likely shared this lower-class trade.

​Thomas: He is most commonly believed to have been a carpenter or builder, the same trade Jesus practiced. While builders were essential to the community, they were still part of the non-elite working class. In those days, wealth was measured by land and livestock ownership, which most builders lacked.

​Matthew: A tax collector, Matthew came from one of the most despised backgrounds imaginable. Tax collectors were viewed as the worst kind of sinners because they were Jews working for the occupying Roman government. They collected Rome's taxes and then extorted extra money to line their own pockets, meaning they were seen as traitors to their own people.

​Simon the Zealot: On the absolute opposite end of the political spectrum was Simon. The Zealots were a radical political group dedicated to violently overthrowing Roman rule. Rome viewed them as extremists and terrorists. It goes without saying that Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot would have naturally been bitter enemies.

​No traditional Rabbi would have picked this group. Yet, by choosing them, Jesus shattered societal biases. He proved that the Gospel is for everyone and that everyone has a place in God's sovereign plan. You didn't have to belong to the religious elite; you could be a misfit. This opened the door for people from all walks of life—men, women, and children alike—to become true disciples of Jesus.

​The Woman at the Well: Breaking Cultural Barriers

​We see another powerful demonstration of Jesus confronting cultural prejudice in His encounter with the Samaritan woman.

​John 4:4-27 (ESV) states:

​"[4] And he had to pass through Samaria. [5] So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. [6] Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. [7] A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” [8] (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) [9] The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) [10] Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” [11] The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? [12] Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” [13] Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [15] The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” [16] Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” [17] The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; [18] for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” [19] The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. [20] Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” [21] Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. [24] God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” [25] The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” [26] Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” [27] Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

​In this single encounter, Jesus directly confronted three massive layers of cultural bias: gender bias, racial/religious bias, and social bias against sinners.

​1. Gender Bias

​First, Jesus addressed the gender bias of the culture. Throughout much of ancient history, women were treated more like property than persons. If a young man wanted to marry someone's daughter, he would trade livestock for her; women were frequently used as bargaining chips.

​Jesus completely rejected this framework. He looked past her gender and saw her value as an individual, giving her an identity. She was not an object or an inconvenience; she mattered to Him, and He spoke to her out of genuine love.

​ While some might mistakenly view His request for a drink as demeaning, it was actually the exact opposite. By asking her for water, Jesus bridged a massive cultural divide, effectively saying, "I see you, and I recognize your value." She wasn't offended; she was stunned. That is why she asked, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?"

​Jesus demonstrated that women were worthy of being His followers. In the New Testament era, many women were active disciples of Jesus, which was completely unheard of at the time. He established that men and women hold equal standing before God. They may have different roles, but their value is identical.

​2. Racial and Religious Bias

​ The second layer Jesus confronted was deep-seated racial and religious prejudice. The woman was a Samaritan. To understand why this interaction was so scandalous, we have to know the history of the Samaritans. They lived in Israel but were viewed by Jews as unclean and impure "half-bloods."

​This hatred wasn't arbitrary. When the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel centuries earlier, they exiled most of the population but left a small remnant behind. That remnant intermarried with foreign settlers who brought pagan gods with them. This created a syncretistic culture that blended pagan practices with Jewish traditions—which was entirely false teaching.

​When the exiled Israelites eventually returned to the land, they encountered this compromised culture, and a bitter generational hatred formed between the two groups. The Jews viewed the Samaritans as spiritually dirty and unethical.

​It was completely taboo for a Jewish man—let alone a Rabbi—to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. To the religious leaders, maintaining external ritual purity under the law was everything. They would never touch an object belonging to someone they considered "unclean."

​ But Jesus wasn't focused on external rituals; His focus was on saving souls. He took the water from the Samaritan woman and drank it, using pure compassion to shatter a centuries-old racial wall. He showed that He doesn't care about worldly divisions; He thinks with a kingdom perspective. Jesus doesn't see race the way the world does; He sees immortal souls.

​3. Bias Against Sinners

​Finally, Jesus broke down the bias against sinners. The hard truth is that we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and we all desperately need a savior. However, the religious leaders of that era treated overt sinners as permanent outcasts.

​The woman at the well was trapped in a lifestyle of sin, as Jesus pointed out in verses 16–18:

​"[16] Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” [17] The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; [18] for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

​Her lifestyle is likely why she went to the well during the sixth hour—noon, the hottest part of the day. She was probably shamed and shunned by the other women of her own community.

​Yet, Jesus saw past her messy history. He did not condone her sin, but out of absolute love, He addressed her behavior with perfect clarity and bluntness, without a hint of condescension or condemnation. As the only sinless person at that well, Jesus was the only one who actually had the right to condemn her—yet He chose gentle correction rooted in compassion. He proved to her that despite her past, she was invited into a relationship with God. That promise extends to us today: no matter what you have done, Jesus can wash you clean if you surrender to Him.

​A Consistent Pattern of Overturning Norms

​We have examined two major instances of Jesus destroying the biases of His time, but the Gospels are filled with examples. If you want to study this further, here are a few excellent places to start:

​Matthew 8:1-4: Jesus deliberately reaches out and touches a man with leprosy, shattering the strict bio-social isolation laws of His day.

​Matthew 8:5-13: Immediately following the healing of the leper, Jesus commends the faith of a Roman centurion—an officer of the brutal occupying empire—setting him above anyone in Israel.

​Matthew 19:13-14: Jesus rebukes His own disciples for pushing children away, welcoming the vulnerable and legally powerless into His presence.

​Nearly every single personal interaction Jesus had in the Gospels involved overturning a cultural norm or tearing down a societal wall.

​Embracing the Great Commission Over Our Biases

​As followers of Christ, we are called to walk exactly as He walked. We all harbor biases that shape how we think and act, but we cannot allow those biases to hinder us from doing God's will, loving people, and extending compassion.

​In Matthew 28, Jesus gave us our marching orders through the Great Commission. Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) says:

​"[18] And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

​We are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations—not just the people groups we like or those who fit cleanly into our comfort zones.

​Consider the apostles Peter and Paul. Both were devout Jews. Human logic would suggest that Paul—a highly educated, elite religious leader—should minister to the Jews, while Peter—a rough, everyday fisherman—should minister to the working-class Gentiles. Instead, God flipped their assignments, sending Paul to the Gentiles and Peter primarily to the circumcision. God’s plans frequently bypass our logic to test our faith and obedience.

​When God called me to street ministry, He forced me to confront my bias against city folks. God didn't cater to my preference; He challenged it. I believe God deliberately tests us to see if our love for Him is stronger than our personal prejudices. If you harbor a bias, do not be surprised if God calls you directly into an environment that forces you to face it.

​The Power of Compassion to Transform

​The ultimate tool Jesus used to demolish the walls of bias was compassion. If we want to break down the barriers in our own hearts and in the world around us, we must use the exact same tool.

​ In Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV), Jesus lays out the foundation for everything we do:

​"36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend on all the Law and the Prophets.”

​We are explicitly commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we pair this with the Golden Rule—treating others exactly how we wish to be treated—we are left with no room for prejudice. We must look past our biases and choose love, even when it creates internal friction.

​When we step out in obedience and show compassion, God doesn't just use us to reach others; He uses those very interactions to transform our own hearts. In my own life, when I forced myself to show compassion to people I had biases against, those experiences knocked down the walls in my own mind.

​Let’s be clear: bias doesn't always look like deep, loud hatred. Often, it is simply treating someone differently than you treat others. But when we choose to love people actively, we begin to see them the way God sees them: as individuals made in His image.

​ How exactly does compassion break down these strongholds? It happens in three distinct ways:

​It aligns our vision with God’s heart: We begin to see people through the lens of God's incredible love. Romans 5:8 (ESV) reminds us of the depth of that love: "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We need to pray for this exact perspective when looking at the lost and those we struggle to love. The old Christian song Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath captures this prayer perfectly:

​"Give me Your eyes so I can see / Everything that I keep missing' / Give me Your love for humanity / Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted / The ones that are far beyond my reach / Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten / Give me Your eyes so I can see."

​It renews our minds: When we surrender to Christ, we become a new creation, but our minds still need ongoing renewal (Romans 12:1-2). This is a lifetime process. By actively choosing compassion, our old worldly patterns of thinking break down, and we begin to think thoughts aligned with Heaven.

​ It changes our hearts: Compassion builds genuine empathy. For me, showing compassion felt forced at first, but over time, it became a natural, authentic expression of my heart.

​To break down biases, we must allow God to give us the eyes, the mind, and the heart of Christ. If you want to change the biases running rampant in the world, you must first allow God to dismantle the ones living inside of you.

​In closing, I leave you with one question to bring before the Lord: What biases do you need to give up today?