Devouring the Poor

Last updated on: May 10, 2016 at 1:05 pm by Eric Smith

Devouring the Poor 2016-05-10T13:05:29-06:00 Eric Smith

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Jesus and the rich man. Beijing, 1879. Image in the public domain, taken from Wikipedia.

By Kris I.

Oh my God! And I mean that quite literally.

I was reading the Gospel of Mark and I came across these verses: “Beware the scribes, who walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation,” (Mark 12:38-40). I immediately thought of Donald Trump at Liberty University holding up the Bible that his mother gave him (with his name in it!) trying to read some appropriate Bible verses to impress the Evangelical Christians with his piety (?) or faith (?), while he makes money off of the backs of cheap labor Mexico and China (while at the same time disparaging trade agreements with these countries). As he reads these Bible verses, he devours the marginalized not only in our society but in countries around the world.

I fell for “compassionate conservatism” once (shame on them), but never again. Donald Trump, the Koch brothers, Karl Rove, tout the American dream, and throw in Christianity to make it respectable, while they become rich off of the backs of the very people they are supposedly representing. Making America great again means giving more tax breaks to the already wealthy and to businesses, while striping government programs to assist the marginalize in our society. They are devouring the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, creating fear of anyone who may be different (and by that I mean non-white and non-Christian). They will devour anyone who gets in their way.

As they hold up their Bibles (with their names in them!) and claim to be guided by their faith, maybe they should read the encounter between Jesus and the rich man. When a rich man approached Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me! When he heard this he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions,” (Mark 10:21-22). I am not asking Donald Trump, the Koch brothers, etc., to sell all their possessions and give the money to the poor (although if they sold some of their possessions and gave the money to poor that would be nice), but, Jesus is asking for true compassion for the marginalized members of our society, not lip service. And that applies to all of us.

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