Cronus (Saturn) castrates his father Uranus, the Greek sky god (before Zeus)
Made by Giorgio Vasari and Cristofano Gherardi in the 16th century Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Prior to Jesus, the Messiah, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, this was the general perception by man of the supernatural world. It would now appear as Hell.
13TH SUNDAY OF HE LITURGICAL YEAR
LUKE 9:51-62
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin was Minister of the Interior during the 1848 Paris Revolution. Looking down one day from his window at a mob passing by on the street, he said, “I am their leader; I must follow them.” It sounds back-to-front, but is it? In a democracy do we not elect leaders to follow us? Governments have Ministers of this and that: the word ‘minister’ means ‘servant’.
On the one hand, if the people who presume to lead me are not serving any real interest of mine, then they are using me to serve their own interests. But how can they serve my interest when there are so many conflicting interests in society? They try to persuade me that their interests and mine coincide with ‘the common good’. But if they live in a society where few people care about the common good, they have to give each group the impression that they are going to serve that group’s particular interests. Since it isn’t always possible to juggle all these interests successfully we enter a world of persuasion, lies, flattery and spin, with occasional flashes of truth and integrity. Yet, somehow, it seems to work to some degree. Democracy, said Churchill, is a very poor form of government, but we have not found a better.
Jesus said that he came to serve and not to be served (Mt 20:28, Mk 10:45). Many politicians say something similar, but even as they speak, our eyes are drawn to their fat salaries, pensions and perks, and to how little like servants most of them appear. Nobody begrudges them a decent salary: they have families to raise, just like everyone else. But when we see excess we pounce. In some hidden recess of our minds, it may be, they are suffering comparison with a man who really came to serve and not to be served, and who had nowhere to lay his head. We can believe Jesus because he took nothing for himself. It’s a credibility thing.
Jesus is not begging for your vote, and so he can speak the truth to you from a pure mind. He is not asking to represent you, and so he doesn’t need to flatter you. He is taking nothing for himself, and so he can ask you to give everything you have.
He does not come to you talking about economic deals. He never spoke about financial matters, except to say, “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” (Mt 22:21; Mk 12:17; Lk 20:25), and to withdraw from financial arbitration (Lk 12:13-14). He doesn’t speak in abstractions at all. He speaks to what is most personal in you. And so his appeal is universal. This is the paradox: what is most personal is most universal. Henri Nouwen saw this clearly, and repeated it many times in his talks and his writing. “We like to make a distinction between our private and public lives and say, ‘Whatever I do in my private life is nobody else’s business.’ But anyone trying to live a spiritual life will soon discover that the most personal is the most universal, the most hidden is the most public, and the most solitary is the most communal. What we live in the most intimate places of our beings is not just for us but for all people. That is why our inner lives are lives for others. That is why our solitude is a gift to our community, and that is why our most secret thoughts affect our common life.”
Because Jesus touches the deepest part of your being he touches the whole of your life. And so he has the right to ask you to follow him. He is not leading you a dance, pretending to lead while only following, pretending to follow while furtively leading. When he says he has come to serve you, you can believe him. He poured out his life and so he has the right to ask you to do the same.
Don’t ask, your guess is as good as mine.
Austerity is stupid, stimulus is dangerous, lying is optimal, economic choices are not scalar Steve Waldman
I’ve been on whatever planet I go to when I’m not writing. Don’t ask, your guess is as good as mine.
When I checked out out a few weeks ago, there was a debate raging on “fiscal austerity”. Checking back in, it continues to rage. In the course of about a half an hour, I’ve read about ten posts on the subject. See e.g. Martin Wolf and Yves Smith, Mike Konczal, and just about everything Paul Krugman has written lately. While I’ve been writing, Tyler Cowen has a new post, which is fantastic. Mark Thoma has delightfully named one side of the debate the “austerians”. Surely someone can come up with a cleverly risqué coinage for those in favor of stimulus?