Part 8 of "The Primer on Scripture and the Budget for 2009")
The tendency of many leaders of the religious right and Republicans to focus on purity following the letter of the law while ignoring its true purpose is hardly new. As Jesus said to the religious and political leaders of Israel: "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices...but you neglect the more important matters of the Law-justice, mercy, and faithfulness...You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. On the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness" (Matthew 23:23-28--this theme is repeated with vivid imagery and different applications throughout the entire 23rd chapter).
The Apostle Paul's sarcastic comments to the Corinthians in his first letter to them, especially verses 10-11, could very easily have been written for many of the powerful and wealthy leaders of the religious right and Republican Party who so confidently declare that God is on their side and that God shows his favor by bestowing wealth and power on the faithful: "Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have become kings-and that without us! How I wish that you really had become kings so that we might be kings with you! 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena...10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world" (1 Corinthians 4:8-13) . . .
Find the entire post here at Faithful Democrats.