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This
is Mark’s third imaginary interview with Jesus. You
can find the first two here.
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Mark: You
look troubled.
Jesus: I
am. I have something I want to say to you.
Mark: Are
you disappointed in me?
Jesus: No.
But I need to explain something to you.
Mark: Ok?
Jesus: Mark,
as I told you before, many people have the wrong idea about me…
many misconceptions.
Mark: Yeah.
I know.
Jesus: Look,
do you know, that when I was here, they called me “Rabbi.”
It means teacher. Maybe you’ve heard the old saying,
“Those who can’t… teach. Those who can… do?”
Mark: Yes.
I’ve heard that before.
Jesus: Well,
I did come here to save you, as they say. But not the way they
think. But what I mean to say really is, that if I had the
power to save you, I still wouldn’t. Mark, I am the
messenger, not the message. I only came to teach and to
show the way. I
am not… “the
way.”
Mark: Why
wouldn’t you save everyone if you could?
Jesus: Because
I believe in freedom. My Father believes in freedom. You
have the freedom and the power to choose. I came to tell you
that you can choose freedom. But it is up to you to choose it,
to be it. I taught you how to think about it. And you
know when I say the word “you” I’m not talking specifically
about you. I’m talking about anyone who is interested in
what I have to say.
Listen. You
know, it’s like this. When you are poor and hungry and have
been insulted, cheated, and “dissed,” at some point you say to
yourself, I have nothing to lose. I’m ready to fight to
regain my dignity. But then you look in the mirror and realize
you are also tired and hungry and you have no money and very little
resources. But the people and the consciousness you would like
to fight are strong and powerful. And it seems that everyone
who stands up gets beat down. And you think it is hopeless and
everyone around you thinks it is hopeless too. And you regret
that you didn’t fight when you were younger or stronger. And
if you fight with weapons and bullets you know you will lose. They have more
weapons and bullets than you do. And
you will never get what you want by killing people. It's a bad
business.
You know, you have
to use your brain, and your heart, and your courage, and your honor,
and your humanity… not guns and bombs. You have these
things. You are endowed with them. They are part of you.
You just have to trust me on this one. You have these
‘weapons,’ and that's all you need to win. They don't understand
that... yet.
Bullies are cowards. They hide behind their money or position
or whatever advantage they think they have. But I'm not saying
they’re stupid.
You know the people
who would take what you have are not stupid. They will not
threaten everyone all at once. And they will not try to take
everything from you all at once. What they will do is attack
the weak first and even then just a little bit at a time, inch by
inch, whatever they think they can get away with without losing
ground. And the reason they do that is they know the weak are
too weak to put up a good defense. And they figure, that those
who are a little better off will not be willing to take the risk of
defending the beleaguered... that they won’t defend them because people are afraid to lose what they have,
even though they know the weak are being mistreated and
it isn't right. This is how
they set the game up.
So, you know, the
bullies will make up stories that sound good and claim to justify
what they are doing hoping that those who are afraid to risk what
they have will buy into those stories and use them as a convenient
escape from the harsh reality. And so many fall prey to that
trap and do nothing, or help others only in ways that don’t take a
risk.
Real help would be
to challenge the status quo, to acknowledge the truth of what they
see. But instead of that they appease
themselves. They do something though… some of them.
They “help” by forming charities and the like. I mean,
truly these organizations sometimes do help people who need it, but
it doesn’t challenge or change the system. (As you can see,
I’ve learned to speak your lingo after all these years.) I
didn’t quite say it that way back when. Anyway, they make
themselves busy helping others, but they are not willing to
challenge
the overall dynamic -- the ubiquitous system that keeps it all in place.
So the poor stay poor and those who are better off do charitable
work. It’s better than nothing, but it doesn’t get
to the heart of the matter.
Nobody wants to risk
what they have... to take on “The Man.” But little by little
failure to take a risk in the present makes it even more difficult
to take a risk down the road… because the system
becomes more entrenched as it persists and demoralizes more people.
But, anyway, this
is how it works. And so people appease themselves with their
charitable work but the system continues to degrade the commons and
more of those who were once at risk, fall off the edge, thereby adding to
the rolls of the poor. The rich and powerful become even more
rich and powerful… inch by inch. And inch by inch members of
your so-called middle class slip into the ranks of a poorer class.
And those who are
conscious of what is going on write their commentaries, like you do.
And some of you call your audience “sheeple” because you don’t see
the general public rising up or trying to help. But the truth
is they are not sheep any more than you are. I know what’s
going on with you. You give people an excuse not to help
because you insult them in a way. You
think they ought to do the right thing even though the way you talk
ticks them off or sounds too radical for ready acceptance. It just gives you an excuse
to still make them wrong. You purposely give them an excuse, weak as
it is, to do nothing so you can continue to make them wrong and/or
try to manipulate them with guilt.
Anyway, you know,
your middle class is shrinking. Your poor are growing.
Your rich are getting richer. Your leaders are causing havoc
in the world as they try to shore up their power and influence and
take control of the world’s dwindling resources. There's a lot of cruelty and injustice
going on right now. This you
know.
So everyone is
afraid of losing what they still have, what they struggle every day to
hold onto. Even you. They see other people losing and
they see no real universal movement to stop the slaughter and they
wonder, what’s the point of trying. Why not just hunker
down. In fact, it’s becoming
harder and harder to try as your ruling class continues to take
their inch by inch at an accelerated pace.
Mark: Well,
I know all this… I think. But… Well…
Jesus: Well…?
Mark: I
told them what I thought I knew and needed to say. I am not a
leader. I don’t want to be a leader. I don’t want to
fight. I’m not afraid to die.
Jesus: Are
you afraid to live?
Mark: I
don’t know how. My life is a waste. Sometimes I think
it’s more helpful to pretend none of this is going on. I
don’t like to tell people they should stop what they are doing…
or to stop believing what they seem to believe so strongly. Sometimes
I think the only chance we have is if these people just continue to
believe what they believe… that they are still free, that the
Constitution still operates, that their own government loves them,
that their enemy are foreign terrorists and not their own
countrymen. At least believing that, they still have something
to hang onto… even if it’s fantasy. I don’t know what to
say to you. What do you suggest I do? What do you want
me to say.
Jesus: What
do you want to do?
Mark: I
don’t know.
Jesus: Hey
Mark. People go to church every week and pray to me.
They want to be saved. They say I’m their savior. What
do you want me to say. They think that believing in me is
going to save them when I told them that the only thing that will
save them is to believe in what I taught and in themselves… not in
me, per se. Of course a lot of them don’t really know what I
taught. They’ve been misinformed, misdirected. Some of
them think I’m going to beam them up to heaven, and life will then
be one big joyful experience with me handling all the tough problems
or decisions that come along for all eternity. Soon too.
A lot of these people are just like the bullies I’ve been talking
about. You know, you don’t have to be rich to be a bully.
If you made a lot of poor people rich, they would behave just like
mythical rich people behave. You know, not all rich people are
bullies. People are not defined by the amount of their wealth.
You don’t have to be wealthy to spend your time on childish
things. Anyway, a lot of these people who pray to me… a lot
of them don’t have a clue. People are where they are.
I still love them.
Mark: I’m
sorry. I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
I’ll tell them what you said. Is that what you wanted to
talk to me about? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound like I
don’t appreciate what you said. I’ll print what you said.
Jesus: You
do that. And tell them when they are able to see the pattern
here that I described, and understand where this is heading, and
want to do something about it, I’ll be there. That’s my
job… Rabbi. But they have to choose it. Be it.
Live it. I’m not coming back. You know why?
I never left. When people want to be free more than
they want anything else in the world, they will be. They will
find a way. If you can't tell the truth, if you won't tell the
truth, if you're afraid to tell the truth, you're not free. And if
others have lost their freedom, yours is at risk.
Mark, you’ve gone
this far. Hang in there. I love you.
Mark: ok.
I know. But what if it’s too late?
Jesus: It’s
never too late. And you know what? It’s also always
too late… for some… as I remember. The truth is, it’s
not even too late if you give up. You can always un-give up.
Right? How many times have you done that? Remember your
dedication in The
Answer? You're not done
yet. And you're not alone either.
Mark: Ok…
Yeah… Ok…
Jesus: Later,
gator. Mark... people are not small, oblivious, or helpless. They only pretend to be.
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