Jesus Is for All Y’all

There’s a shortcoming in the English language that most other languages don’t share. In English, “you” can mean either one person or several people depending on context, and this can lead to a lot of sketchy Bible interpretation. Promises and commands in the Bible that are meant for a wide audience are misinterpreted as being for me and me alone, and the American emphasis on individualism makes this misinterpretation that much more extreme. “Personal relationship with Jesus” gets perverted from something deeply spiritual into an outright shunning of the communal mindset that Jesus and his apostles taught. To help us guard against this, I want to recommend a subtle shift in language.

In the South, we have a few words that remedy this situation: you, y’all, and all y’all. Let’s take last night’s Urban Soul panel discussion as an example:
If I were addressing one speaker on that panel, I would say “you.”
If I were addressing the entire panel (but not the entire room), I would say “y’all.”
If I were addressing the entire room, I would say “all y’all.”

In the Old Testament, God chooses the people of Israel to be the chosen “y’all.” The teachings and wisdom in the Old Testament are not intended for one person; they’re for a whole people.

When Jesus arrives on the scene, he takes this to the next level and goes from “y’all” to “all y’all” much to the suspicion of the religious authorities of his day. Jesus invites Samaritans and Gentiles and all sorts of people beyond the original y’all. He commands his followers to reach the nations (Greek: ethnos) and go to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). He makes it clear: salvation and redemption and resurrection are intended for all y’all, and that is Good News!

It’s sad then that we read the Bible nowadays and try to turn “all y’all” back into “you.” The words of the Bible are an amazing personal promise to those who believe, but they’re also a promise to everyone in the world: this love isn’t just for us; it’s intended for everyone. We need to reclaim that language and that mission.

Jesus is for all y’all.

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