The Easter Story - what it means, from a progressive's view for DU (Stop the war)

[The Straight Story]

I ended up with some downtime before moving today, daughter is staying with my niece and nephews for the night, and wife is just plain wore out and in bed. They both leave Tuesday morning for the move to CA and things have been hectic. Easter being one of the things on my mind I thought that since I had unexpected down time I would toss out a post on my thoughts on this day.

With the issues of this current generation swirling about in my head as I prepared to move (ya gotta think about something while doing boring ass things like packing....) I tried to understand them all a little better in the light of a major event in history.

So here is what I wrote earlier as I sat down to take a break (I write stuff in notepad at times, not into blogging anywhere yet):

Title:
You cannot live in peace and harmony without accepting that people are different than you

Whether or not one believes in the Christian faith at all, or that the bible is anything but bunk, a person can certainly look at it all through a progressive eye and see a message which has played out in our time on this earth.

In a nutshell - giving your all for something, and then watching all that you gave blossom into something.

Martin Luther King - he not only lost his life, but when he was living he was giving his all for a cause. He died for what he believed in, and the cause rose up like Jesus on an Easter morning and helped to break the chains of oppression. The things he worked for went on without him there, and picked up steam and the fight is still alive and well today.

Jesus bucked the system. The religious right at the time was oppressive to people. He brought a message of acceptance, tolerance, love, and forgiveness. He talked about the sheep and the goats - those who helped the poor, those in prison, etc versus those who thought God would love them for their much speaking and rituals. He spoke harshly at times about things, and his most gentle words were those towards the harlots, the sick, the poor, and so on.

He set an example of how people should treat each other.

To him his death would mean salvation to others. And he knew it was coming, and even prayed that the cup be passed from him - he was human after all and the thought of what was to come certainly was not pleasant. But to him it meant better days ahead for the many.

And while he was willing to face all this, and did, I wonder what many of us are willing to face to get the results needed to help others.

Can we pick up our cross and follow him - or MLK, Ghandi, etc? I know I have not, but I know too other people close to me depend on me right now - and that, to me, is where I can see some who think that if you want to serve a cause (be it as a priest, etc) it is best not to have a family (wife/kids/husband kind of thing) because your first duty is to them. I can't leave a sick wife in bed with a 6 yr old kid running around the house to go out and fight everyday (though I can do something online, and do).

Jesus knew this I think, a careful study shows a lot about the people he picked, what he said based on who he was talking to etc. Not that a person cannot serve a cause with family, but to devote yourself you need to choose - the cause or the family, don't try to do both because one would suffer - and suffering is something you should only place on yourself and it is not fair to put that burden on those around you.

Whether you believe he died and rose again really does not matter one bit. Because in the end others did believe it, acted upon it, and the world did change based on that belief. That others have used this event in evil ways for their own good does not take away from the lesson. Selfish and evil people will always use what they can for their own gains. Jesus even let it be known that the church itself would turn on his teachings and become the 'whore of Babylon' - but the real folks would know better, call em on it, and flee from her. They have prostituted his message for their own gain.

But the real message never died. It has been carried on by progressives to this day.

Jesus was not about war and taking over the Romans, etc. He knew that you cannot change things by military power and laws, you had to change people in their hearts and minds. While the few may rule the many, the many can change who rules when they have the power of truth - the power of love and acceptance of each other.

You cannot live in peace and harmony without accepting that people are different than you.

And that message rises every Easter to me.

But I see it here everyday in those fighting to stop the war, to help the poor, the sick, the downtrodden, the discriminated against for any number of reasons.

We don't all agree here on things, we don't all see them the same way or interpret things the same way. Does not mean we have to be mean, angry, etc - we won't ever agree 100% on things. And accepting that is the first step on the journey of being a liberal.

Today the stone was rolled away - and the ideals we hold to be self evident walked out of the tomb the right wing put those ideals in. And it scares them because they realize they cannot keep them locked up and dead.

You cannot kill the ideals of liberalism without them rising up again. It didn't work on Jesus, and it won't work on his ideals either.

Peace out.

[bmbmd]

1. Well said.

Read the red.

[The Straight Story]

2. Thank you my friend

and I agree - read the red, well said.