By Reverend Robert (Bob) Murphy
I’m not a Christian. Not by any definition that I know.
I don’t endorse any of the Christian creeds, but I respect Jesus. I pause for religious reflection on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, I can be as outspoken as any Christian evangelist in America.
Here’s My Easter Message
Jesus is still an inspiration for many. In this sense, he rises again for every generation. He was a mystic and an activist. Jesus said: Love God. Love your neighbor. The two commandments are both important. If you know one and not the other, you’ve missed something important.
When pressed for an explanation, Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. We don’t know how the Samaritan imagined God, but we do know how the Samaritan rescued a stranger on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10: 25-37).
Jesus was a radical Jewish peasant who lived and worked in a terrible situation in the Middle East. A foreign army occupied the area that Jesus knew. Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem hosted “a den of thieves.” In the midst of a cultural and political crisis, Jesus stayed with the poor, people with disabilities and others who needed his attention.
Unitarian Universalists involved with Class Conversations and/or economic justice work can understand what is sometimes called “the Jesus way.” The Nazarene encouraged mutual aid arrangements, and, after his death, the first Christian communities became communal arrangements (Acts: 32-37).
Jesus told his disciples, “Truly, I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”(Matthew 19: 16-23.) For the billionaires and big corporations, mutual aid and economic justice can be difficult to accept.
A nation dominated by the wealthy will be slow to make progress. The poor, people with disabilities and other marginalized individuals will be exploited so that the prosperous can become more prosperous. At the end of life, millions of Americans will be bankrupt because of the high cost of healthcare. In their last moments, many will feel abandoned.
However, there will also be many who come to a better understanding of why Jesus’ message still matters.