COMMENTARY
Rod Watson: Consequences implicit when quoting Jesus
In the midst of the season devoted to celebrating Jesus’ birth, a group of scholars will descend on the Center for Inquiry in Amherst this weekend to explore whether he actually existed.
If they can prove he didn’t, that would explain a lot, considering the mayhem and meltdowns all around.
But if they can prove he really did exist, that might be even worse.
I don’t claim to be a biblical expert like, say, Rush Limbaugh. But even a cursory reading of what Jesus is supposed to have said is enough to make one shudder at the consequences if the scholars here prove he really did say those things — and that he expected us to listen up.
Consider:
Whatever you do for the least of these my brothers, you do it for me. (Matthew 25:40)
The “least of these” today are children and the elderly. Yet in this land of abundance, children represent a disproportionate share of those living without. The poverty rate among kids in Buffalo is nearly 43 percent, an astounding figure and more than double the national rate of 17 percent — which is damning enough in itself.
For the youngest in Buffalo, those under 5 and least able to fend for themselves, the poverty rate is 50 percent, a recent Buffalo News analysis found. And nearly a quarter of the city’s children live in what experts call extreme poverty, growing up in families that are trying to survive on incomes that are only half the official poverty level.
At the other end of the life spectrum, 13 percent of the elderly live in poverty, some having no choice other than to deny themselves heat or food or medicine in what’s supposed to be their “golden years.”
Jesus went . . . into the temple . . . and He overturned the tables of the money changers and He scattered their coins. (John 2:13-17)
Yet no one overturns the tables where con men in suspenders move money on computers and make fortunes no matter how workers at the other end of those accounts make out. And when the bills come due to save financial temples that are “too big to fail,” working folk put up the cash while watching their own retirement plans become leaden parachutes.
But instead of overturning the tables, we send our money changers to Capitol Hill for bailouts. Some even fly private jets, before image consultants tell them to drive hybrids.
Beware false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
That brings to mind Bush, Cheney, Rice, et al. How much will they make when they leave the White House after coming in with false promises of no nation building, then starting a war that has enriched contractors while costing 4,200 U. S. military lives and more than $600 billion?
After Jan. 20, they’ll command huge speaking fees and get paid for lending their names to corporate boards, after being empowered as false prophets for eight years.
The poor you will always have with you. . . . (Matthew 26:11)
We pretty much guarantee that, begrudging them tax cuts on the grounds they don’t pay income taxes even though they pay regressive levies such as the Social Security tax. And we make sure their minimum wage never catches up to inflation.
All of which makes me pretty ambivalent as the Amherst conference takes place in the midst of a season that temporarily brings out the best in us.
Granted, if the scholars conclude that Jesus did not exist, all hell will break loose among those who claim to believe.
Yet if he did exist, there could be a different type of hell to pay, once the glow of the holiday season fades.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments