Cops Killed Jesus

 

In addition to Easter Sunday it is also the 125th Anniversary of Paul Robeson's birth. So in honor of the man who once said, “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth," here's a message from an Asheville, NC graffiti artist. pic.twitter.com/A8YMxYYbyX

— Daryle Lamont Jenkins (@DLamontJenkins) April 9, 2023

I've been saying for some time that the things no Christian should be about are blasphemy laws and the death penalty. The trumped-up charge against Jesus of Nazareth was that he played at being king of the Jews, which was an office that could only be bestowed by Rome. He claimed a moral right to the children of Israel that he politically could not claim. But he wasn't saying he was the King of the Jews, only his presence as a preacher against the princes of this world existed as a problem for them. 

His sentence was death, and before his death was carried out, he suffered police brutality in the form of a crown of thorns. In custody, he was mocked and stripped naked. His judge, Pilate, didn't seem to think he was guilty, but "washed his hands and sealed his fate". Because someone had to be made an example of. 

Call me, the atheist, a Holy Saturday Christian, because I see the Christ in the downtrodden and persecuted, in the wronged and derailed, in the fucked up and failed people around me. I don't know that the fallen rise, but I want to believe we can all get lifted by understanding one another and helping ourselves up from failure bit by bit. I have no proof for my faith, I just think it would be great. 

So, do I have faith in the Son of God? No. I have faith in the son of man, who said whatever you do to the least of these, you have also done to me. And know it is but for the grace of God--you. Understood. The lesson is--do you care if the government ruling you is lawful, just, righteous, or slams suspects about and roughs them up, gives them a rough ride, sees them die of "self-inflicted gunshots" while in handcuffs, watches as they go insane in solitary, watches them suicide in jail? Or will you be the righteousness you want to see in the world? 

Will you clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit those in prison? I have no pretensions about the life that is to come, but the life we have now needs people who don't give a shit about heaven and hell. The people who just want to save one another.  And we can just be that--no faith required. Just do right by others and expect and create systems that also do that. 

But as for me, the Zealot, I will address those who do wrong against the least of these all the day and night. And Judas hanged himself, but I think the centurions saw their job was done and called it a day.