The Pizza Resistance (My Old Blog)

Hey, long time no blog! The flu, the Christmas season, my glacier-paced novel writing all seem to be conspiring against me. But something occurred to me as I was over at THEOOZE today, and it seemed worthy to blog about.

I’ve begun to feel some empathy for the Pharisees, the Priests, the Sadducees, all those power brokers back in the day. Because Jesus really mucked things up.

Imagine you’re a Pharisee. You have been given TORAH. It is God’s word to you, how you should live, how YAHWEH wants you to live. And then Jesus comes along. He is extremely frustrating to deal with. He’s saying all kinds of weird new stuff, or at least old stuff in weird ways, like he's some kinda rabbi, and that’s YOUR job. But he doesn't seem to be following the teachings of any rabbi you’ve ever heard of. At least, he's not consistent with it. Some people say he might be dangerous. And, by golly, some of the stuff he says does sound dangerous. So you want to nail him down a little. You just want to do your job, protect the kids, protect the faith. So ask him a simple question. “Should we pay taxes?” And he goes off on this rant about giving to Caesar what his and God what’s His, and you’re like, “Um, that doesn’t answer my question. Does that mean we should or shouldn’t pay taxes?” I mean, why can’t he answer a simple question? And so you ask him “Why don’t your disciples fast?” And he goes off into this STORY about old wine and new garments and wineskins. And you're like...uh, what? And this goes on and on, and you get more and more frustrated. Then there’s that crap about you being a whitewashed tomb. I mean, that is so over the line. Not only is he dangerous; he's disrespectful. Somebody's gotta do something.

Or you’re a Priest. The Temple is the thing, has been for a long time. And it’s your job to protect it, to intercede for the people. It’s what you were born to do. And this Jesus guy comes along, talking about tearing down the Temple! Talking like HE’S the Temple! And then, on top of that, he trashes the place! So you ask him, “Who the heck are you to talk like this? To act like this? Who gave you this authority? Who made you boss? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???” And not only doesn't he apologize, he doesn't even answer your questions! He starts sassing back, “First, tell me who gave John authority, then I’ll tell who gave me authority.” And you’re like, “There he goes again! We’re not telling him any such thing!” And so he says, “I’m not going to tell you where my authority comes from either.” And you are speechless at the gall of this man. Somebody’s gotta do something.

So you all get together. You decide, if it walks like a camel and talks like a camel, it’s a camel. He sounds like he has something to hide because, he really does have something to hide. You decide to something. For the children. For the Faith. To protect God's honor.

Do you see yourself in there anywhere? I know I see myself, in bold italics. So what does that mean?

Jesus; Pharisees; Temple