Home > Jesus Was No GOP Lobbyist
A tortured version of his message is being marketed for political gain
What would Jesus filibuster? The question is bizarre, of course, but the fact that many prominent religious and political leaders believe that there is an answer surely marks our time as pretty strange.
How quickly it has all happened - that the media, particularly television, has convinced itself that Christianity is little more than a Republican political action committee. When the pope died, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer introduced former Clinton aide Paul Begala and right-wing pundit Robert Novak this way: "Bob is a good Catholic; I’m not so sure about Paul Begala." At the bottom of the screen, CNN ran an informative factoid for the audience: "Many Catholic doctrines are conservative."
Broadcast media prefer to cast Christianity in the role of "right-wing values PAC" because it’s so neat and tidy. They don’t much like even to say the name Jesus on air because then we might have to talk about his ideas. "Evangelical Christianity" is much simpler because you can treat it as just another special-interest group, like the Teamsters or the neocons.
Leaders such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson have used the media to redefine Christianity as the "Republican base" - all between commercials hawking family-values videotapes or pleading for more contributions.
Gosh, WWJD? It makes me wax nostalgic for the days when people wore those bracelets and asked the question, "What would Jesus do?" At least people said his name then and pondered his ideas, using the question as the beginning of an engaged moral debate. Few would have appreciated those bracelets as much as the man himself - Jesus, who preached a new way of thinking about religion. Instead of taking orders from temple chieftains, Jesus provoked his followers into thinking for themselves. His preferred media outlet? A literary genre called the parable. It’s a style of Q&A wherein the teacher doesn’t give the answer but challenges the listener with a half-finished story that forces him to think through to the answer by himself. The radical right has swapped out this genius preacher for some easy listening. They insist that everything will be fine if we just nail the Ten Commandments above every courthouse.
Curious. Jesus updated the Ten Commandments in his most famous speech, the Sermon on the Mount. In it, one finds the Eight Beatitudes. Why don’t we ever hear about nailing those somewhere? Here’s why: It’s not simply the law in the Ten Commandments that attracts fundamentalists. Rather, it’s the syntax. The authoritarianism of so many "Thou Shalt Nots."
The syntax of Jesus’ Eight Beatitudes is not so easy (Blessed are the poor in spirit.... Blessed are the peacemakers). These words invite the kind of hard questions that Jesus loved to tweak his followers with. How are they blessed? And why? It’s just like Jesus to leave us with questions instead of answers.
The Jesus who speaks in the Gospels is nothing like the fuming Republican Jesus I see on TV now. Jesus was a leader who understood that ambiguity and doubt are not to be feared but are, simply, facts of life that a great teacher exploits to guide his followers on their own paths toward conviction and belief.
Here is a quote from Jesus that you almost never hear: "What do you think?" It’s right there in the Bible. Jesus asks this question all the time.
One parable Jesus taught was this one, from Matthew: "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ’Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ’I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ’I go, sir,’ but did not go." Jesus’ disciples all strenuously raised their hands. They knew the answer! The first son was the most virtuous!
Whereupon Jesus (whose sense of humor is underrated) replied: "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you."
What does that parable mean? Frankly, I am not sure. I have my own thoughts, but they all feel tentative, and I can only hope I’m right. Jesus doesn’t accuse his disciples of being wrong; he just mocks the easiness of their quick answer.
Taken as a whole, it’s not a parable with a clear and right answer. None of them are, and that is the point. You have to sort of toss it around in your head, think about people you’ve dealt with who’ve said one thing and done another, and then try to come to some answer. Chances are that few will agree in their interpretations, an outcome that is rhetorically so sly. Jesus makes you work through your own doubt and hesitation to arrive at an answer that becomes the very foundation of your own certainty.
This guy’s good, isn’t he?
But that Jesus is nowhere to be found on our televisions or in our newsweeklies. Ironically, mass-market Christians rarely cite or emphasize the living Jesus, the Jesus who speaks. They like their Christ dead. Or nearly dead, as in Mel Gibson’s movie. In that film, the entire Sermon on the Mount - the most important words Jesus spoke - is relegated to a few seconds of flashback.
Yet the living Jesus always finds a way of getting past the money-changers, doesn’t he? Every generation produces a Jesus to suit its own purposes. How fitting that in the Age of Information our broadcasters have marketed a Jesus so narrowly defined that he resembles little more than a lobbyist loitering outside Tom DeLay’s office hoping for a few minutes of the great man’s time.
But these people always underestimate the actual words that Jesus spoke. They are right there in the Gospels for those willing to hear Jesus, rather than rely upon videotape salesmen to re-interpret him as a furious political hack. The living Jesus will come again. It’s the other meaning of being reborn.
Forum posts
29 April 2005, 13:25
The biggest problem is, that people are simply too lazy to think for themselves, or so it seems to me. Sometimes I think that Jesus’ parables are Western versions of the famous Koans of the Japanese Zen masters; they are designed to make you do your own work, because the only real answer is the one you create for yourself. But nowadays, getting everything pre-packaged, off the shelf, one size fits all seems to be what most people want. That is what these religious fanatics are giving them. Remember, a fanatic is some who redoubles his efforts, because he has forgotten his original aims.
Another thought: Isn’t there something in the Revelations of St. John about false prophets before the beginning of the end....
29 April 2005, 18:00
Good letter, something these non-elected "Christain" leaders and followers should think about. They make a complete mockery of the WORD, for a dollar and ego.
I am not righteous by far, but I run from anything these "leaders" say. They are full of BAD and false teachings. I just wish people would stop sending these people money, turn off their TVs, and open their eyes.
29 April 2005, 18:12
"Jesus updated the Ten Commandments in his most famous speech, the Sermon on the Mount. In it, one finds the Eight Beatitudes. Why don’t we ever hear about nailing those somewhere? Here’s why: It’s not simply the law in the Ten Commandments that attracts fundamentalists. Rather, it’s the syntax. The authoritarianism of so many "Thou Shalt Nots."
Interesting observation. Christians do so like to focus on what we are all not supposed to do(overlooking certain things the government does like killing/stealing/lying) but there is very little education as to how we are supposed to express christianity in our daily lives as far as reaching out to those less fortunate and acting as Jesus would.
I love the idea of getting the beatitudes into the language of our ’christian’ nation, but it is easy to see why they are not...
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "
It is clear upon reading the bible- that the Bush Administration doesn’t believe a word of it or they would all realize they are going to hell! Everything they do is the exact opposite of the teachings of the bible- yet they claim to be so holy,speaking and acting for Jesus. This is an insult!...of the highest order. This is the definition of the anti-christ.
It is time for the good people of this world to take back the teachings of Jesus from these hypocrites!
(note to Bush- not sure if there is a chance for your soul to be saved, but just in case you might want to read the sermon on the mount again and act accordingly)
You Cannot Serve God and Riches
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
"why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, "Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. "
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits."
30 April 2005, 00:29
Making the point: beware of false prophets!
The bible is still a pretty revolutionary book, which is being misused by many institutions - governments and churches alike. Whenever it fits their needs.
God and Jesus are not in favour of any ideology especial if these ideologist think the can kill and steal.
"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
Mahatma Ghandi
30 April 2005, 06:36
We were given the warning when we started seeing these things by Jesus, to get out and not to be aligned with false prophets and teachers. Well, the flock doesn’t listen, they adopt WORLD politics and Talmadic teachings and try to make a false kingdom of God on Earth without HIM, destroying many for their false kingdom(total blasphemy) and lead the sheep to destruction for the $$$ £££.
And the sheep are to lazy to pick up the book and read.
4 May 2005, 12:56
Matthew 7:13-15
13"Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in thereat.
14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
5 May 2005, 10:18
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
"...therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ’love will cover a multitude of sins.’" 1 Peter 4:7-8