On this eve of Easter, 2017, I find myself reflecting on a great teacher who walked among his fellow humans some 2000 years ago and brought a message of love. I refer of course to Jesus of Nazareth. The Jesus depicted in the Gospel of Thomas is the one dearest to my heart—much like a great Zen teacher in many respects.
Sometimes I wonder what he would make of the world we have built with its institutional greed, insensitivity, racism, sexism, hatred, militarism, ecological destruction, and on and on the depressing list might run. Have we progressed at all since his day? Likely yes, but hardly enough to be proud of. Deep problems abound.
I’ve seen bumper stickers: Who would Jesus bomb? I’m uncomfortable trying to predict the actions of Jesus, but I can hazard a guess that he would support the bombing of absolutely no one. No exceptions. I suspect the incredible destructive force of our modern weapons and their vast numbers around the globe would sadden him deeply.
What might he make of our economy of so few winners and so many losers? Since we know of his response to the presence of money changers in the temple, I doubt he would find much to support in how we conduct our economic affairs—so many hungry, so many without a roof over their heads, and in a world where this need not be. We could take care of everyone on the planet, if only we cared enough. We have enough food, we have enough housing materials, we have enough energy—just not enough love for one another in our hearts. Sad, but that is the case.
Around the world now crises are intensifying—in Syria, in North Korea, in the South China Sea, in Africa, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. Humans killing other brother and sister humans, countries at war or preparing for war. What are we doing? I am drawn to a favorite saying of Buckminster Fuller: Either war is obsolete or man is. Those are the options before us—we either learn to love one another or we accept the oblivion that is the inevitable alternative. I pray we all wake up soon to the dilemma we face and make the wise choice.