Having watched Pope Francis, and I’m no fan as I’m not Catholic(hell, I’m not even a believer), being eaten alive by conservative Protestants the words of this song came to mind. Oh, how fantastic Christans are at cannibilzing. I know, I know. The Pope’s not really a real Christian(sarcasm, if you can’t tell).
My Jesus
“And who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side
Or fall down and worship at His holy feet? Holy, yeah
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part?
Sometimes I doubt we’d recognize Him
‘Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church…
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
And I think He’d prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd…” Todd Agnew
No, if the Jesus depicted in scripture walked the streets of America today he would not be recognized. He would be shunned. He would be shouted down. No matter how many scriptures you throw at me saying that Jesus was a capitalist I don’t buy it. I don’t think that The Parable of the Ten Minas means what you think it means. I’m not even a professing Christian and I know that this parable has nothing to do with greed or accumulation of wealth. Even if it did it wouldn’t be advocating it at the expense of others. It certainly doesn’t carry with it any meaning even close to “get all you can, while you can, and hoard it for yourself.”
Somehow I just can’t picture the Jesus found in your Holy Book packing heat and capitalizing on the mysery of others. I don’t even think I can picture him building big walls across the border. Funny, for people who expect that Jesus could come back soon, at any moment, you sure do spend an awful lot of your time stepping on the heads of others to get your leg up in this world.
Out From Under the Umbrella 