What’s love got to do with it? Everything!

It’s really interesting how many of us equate how the love of God should be expressed. Many religions dictate that we who care should restrict ourselves to doing good deeds and NOT becoming too rebellious towards the ‘things of the world’. Hogwash! Just look at the person who hundreds of millions worship as ‘The Son of God. You go into any number of churches or cathedrals throughout this planet and see his picture adorning the altars and walls. Jesus always has this peaceful and caring look to him; otherwise, we see him nailed to a cross and suffering as a mortal man. That ‘crown of thorns’ across his brow seems to be almost a calling card for Christianity. I guess the movers and shakers of that enterprise seem to forget what their own bible had written about this truly special soul:

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^[a]doves; ¹⁶ and He would not permit anyone to carry ^[b]merchandise through the temple. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ ^[c]den.”

This is how the world should understand Jesus and his teachings. He took the initiative and acted like the role model he was ordained to be. This is how those of us who see through the machinations of this corrupt and yes… evil empire should be behaving. Jesus did not commit any violent act inside that temple, or anywhere else he traveled and taught. Rather, he showed ‘strength of character and principle’ as he overturned those expressions of profit-making and unnecessary violence against God’s creatures. Perhaps if the powers that be were, shall we say, able to prevent such actions by keeping Jesus and his followers out of the temple, maybe he would have called for a boycott of the place! Maybe he and others who agreed with him would have found a new place to meet up and pray together.

This nation is teetering on a thin thread that holds whatever sense of a democratic republic we have left. The empire has taken full control of whatever levers of power our Constitution wanted for We the People. Our government is now like that temple from the New Testament story. America has become Amerika… one big mart of corruption and predatory corporate Capitalism. One imagines that even Adam Smith would turn over in his grave to see how convoluted his ideas have become. Folks, this is NOT even Capitalism in whatever semi pure form it could have been. No, this is one big shark tank and we, the working stiffs who keep the waters filled for those sharks, are their next meal! This is not a call for the violent overthrow of it all. One knows that some from what is known as ‘The Left’ would love to see this occur. Alas, call me a flaming peace advocate, or call me a chickenshit, or call me whatever you wish to label me. The bare and sad truth is that if… even if there were to be such a radical movement tinged with violent rhetoric and force, it would be a right wing led fascist one.

Jesus was, in reality, a Socialist, who taught how people should share good fortune. He said it all when a rich man wanted to be a follower of his. Jesus knew that the man was very wealthy. So, he told him to give all his wealth to the poor and follow him. The man walked away. Jesus then uttered the words that should resound throughout humanity: “Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven.” How dare the super-rich billionaires that run our empire and its political system pretend to be God loving! The homeless man with but two dollars to his name who gives half of his money to another in need… is more righteous than any of those super rich so-called philanthropists who give away not even 10% of their fortunes and then strut around like peacocks. Our nation needs us,  the working stiffs, the hundreds of millions of us, to stand up to empire. The Buddhists have a great saying as to interactions: “Be Friendly and Assertive”. Like the mother who loves her child but chides it and pushes it away from danger each time, we working stiffs need to do that with this empire. Finally, the great Afro American scholar and leader, Frederick Douglass, said it best: “Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has. It never will.”