Jews and Greeks were about as far apart as you could get on the philosophical/religious scale. Jews believed in one God, one truth, one Scripture. They pursued purity and righteousness. Greeks believed in many gods, many truths, and many writings of wisdom. They lived sensually - whatever felt good must be good.
The two groups rolled their eyes at each other. They despised each other. They never ate lunch together.
Along came Christianity and a man named Paul, who tried to reach out to both sides and reconcile them through his ministry.
"For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." (1 Cor 12:13)
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)
"Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." (Col 3:11)
The cause of prejudice is ignorance. People don't understand, so they attack and divide.
When we take away the skin color, the cultural garb, and the accent, we realize we are all the same.
We all want to be loved.
We all want to survive.
I would remain a friend to the new kid no matter what is said. The new kid is an unknown, but you are making him known. The first few jokes always sting, but over time the prejudice fades, the jokes get old, and the people see that their mockery won't make a difference. Others look only at the surface and see differences. You obviously look deeper into this friend and see similarities.
Heaven is not divided into neighborhoods. Jews over here. Greeks here. Iranians over there. Peruvians in the middle. In fact, when the colors of heaven are mentioned, they are always expressed as a rainbow (Rev 4:3; 10:1).
We should integrate ourselves with one another here on earth because it will be that way in heaven.... where no one eats alone.
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