Missed Opportunities

I sat with Mathew and read the Sermon on the Mount.  Amazing.  Over several chapters Jesus outlines what it means to be a Christian.  The Beatitudes are poetic and demonstrative, though I still have a few questions.  How have modern Christians missed the whole turn the other cheek and love your enemy theme?  But that is future fodder.

Despite the wealth of philosophical foundation present in these chapters I cannot help but think that while Jesus talked about the golden rule he missed some golden opportunities to make a few things more clear.  He was, after all, addressing a mostly illiterate crowd probably not steeped in subtle innuendo.  Direct statements could have really helped his followers then and now.  Plus, if he knew all things surely he knew the trials and tribulations to come and could have stopped much of it with a few more beatitudes or in depth explanations.  He did a great job of making it clear that we are to love our enemies and even used tax collectors as an example.  He did a great job of making it clear that the comfort of wealth is bad, that mourning and humility will be rewarded, etc.  (Has Trump read these?)  But there are other areas he seemed to avoid.

How about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender folks?  Bible is pretty tough on such folks.  He fixed the whole notion of an eye for an eye, so why didn’t he fix the notion of persecuting people for their sexual identity and preference?

How about slavery?  I know, many claim that his message to free the oppressed addresses slavery, but that is pretty obscure for that audience, and even today some do not get it.  He could have simply said slavery is evil, no person should claim ownership of another person, human trafficking will get you sent directly to hell, and use of another human for your own personal wants is wrong.  Nope.  None of that was clear and Christian slave owners were around for eons, even today.

How about theocracy?  Did Jesus support a government grounded and supportive of one religion over another?  What would he have thought about the forthcoming proposed Islamic state?  What would he have thought about the current trend in America to push for a Christian nation under God?  That remains pretty vague.  I personally belief he would have opposed such chicanery and, if so, come right out and said that faith in God is not a governmental function and no people should make it the law of the land.  God is a personal God who created us both in His image as well as endowing us with free will.  If God wanted to mandate belief he could have done it somewhere around Adam and Eve.

How about military spending and individual ownership of firearms?  Man, could we use some holy standards on that today.  I suspect the entire “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy” means we do not support weaponry and should pursue a path of pacifism.  But that is too big a leap for his audience then as well as his followers today.  When he blessed the peacekeepers wasn’t he really cursing the violence proponents?  We could have used some real clarity here.

There are other areas that are issues today that he could have addressed.  Is it nobler to pursue knowledge of the stars than pursue star wars weaponry?  Should education and science be pre-eminate in our pursuits, or should we simply continue to live as shepherds and carpenters?  When science seems to conflict with previous holy beliefs couldn’t he have said that God created the universe and endowed us with the curiosity to understand his universe.  All efforts toward seeking an understanding of the operation of God’s creation is good.  Scripture was not meant to compete with knowledge.  On and on I could go, but I think you get my drift.

If Jesus was God and was omnipotent and omniscient and knew these issues would cause great pain and turmoil in the years to come, why in the world did he not nip it in the bud?  Sure seems like either a condemnation of his omniscience or an erroneous missed opportunity.

Missed opportunities is the kindest conclusion.