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http://consortiumnews.com/2011/11/26/would-jesus-join-the-occupy-protests/

intro:

Would Jesus Join the Occupy Protests?
November 26, 2011
In the holiday season, many Christians take pride in helping the poor
– by donating food and toys – but U.S. religious leaders have stayed
in the background of challenges to an inequitable economic system,
leaving that Jesus work to mostly secular young people of the Occupy
movement, the Rev. Howard Bess observes.


By the Rev. Howard Bess

When the Martin Luther King Jr. monument was dedicated recently in
Washington DC, I was reminded that the civil rights movement in
America was led not by a politician fulfilling campaign promises, nor
by a popular evangelist bent on saving souls, but by a highly trained
theologian who put his religious teachings into practice with a demand
for justice for those who had suffered at the hands of the rich and
the powerful.

The Rev. King was a Baptist preacher who took his religion into the
arena of racism, economics and social disparity. However, hatred
caught up with him, and he was killed.


Martin Luther King Jr. monument in Washington DC
Now, nearly a half century later, there is another broad-based protest
that is gaining momentum. The Occupy Wall Street protests echo some of
King’s complaints about economic inequality and social injustice – and
the message can no longer be ignored.

The significance of this latest public protest movement, erupting all
over the country, may eventually rival the impact of the civil rights
movement of the 1960s, yet when comparing the two movements, there is
one glaring difference: priests, pastors and clergy of every stripe
are rarely in the forefront of Occupy protests.

Instead, secular young people are doing the very work that Jesus from
Nazareth would urge us to do. Just as Jesus condemned the injustices
of his own day – and overturned the money-changing tables at the
Temple – the Occupy protesters are challenging how Wall Street bankers
and today’s rich and powerful are harming the masses of people.

This week, religious people have felt proud of giving turkeys to the
poor, but they should be joining the protests against the haughty
rich. I maintain that Jesus would be a part of the actions in
Portland, Denver, New York and many other cities. For Christians, the
crucial issue should be “what would Jesus do”?

Today, Christian theologians and Bible scholars agree that the Jesus
trip to Jerusalem at the end of his life is essential to understand
what Jesus was about. Yet, Christian tradition has brainwashed
followers of Jesus about the realities of his trip south to Jerusalem.
We have all been exposed to the worship services in which children
march waving palm branches and singing “Hosanna.”

Traditionally we have called the event “the triumphal entry.” However,
put into the political and social context of Jerusalem in the early
first century BCE, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was
probably more like a protest march that mocked every leader in the
city.

Political and religious “leaders” of the day probably would have
ridden into town on a prancing horse, certainly not a humble donkey.
So, Jesus’s choice of transportation was more street theatre than
triumphal entry. It triggered a week of confrontations and arguments
with the leaders of state and Temple.

The key event of the week was the incident in the Temple. Once again
church tradition has given us a special name for the incident, “the
cleansing of the Temple.” But It was more likely another piece of
street theatre that became a bit physical.

To better understand the Temple incident, we need to understand its
context. The Temple had become a lot more than a religious temple. It
had become a tax collection agency and a bank. The Temple held large
sums of money accumulated by collecting tithes from the faithful.

In reality, the tithe was a tax, not a freely given gift to God. In
addition, fees were charged for participation in the Temple’s
religious exercises.  So, the Temple collected lots of money.

With that fat treasury, the Temple had entered the banking business
and regularly made loans, primarily to poor people. Poor people were
the victims not only of a flat tax, but also high-interest loans. So,
the gap between the haves and the have-nots was growing rapidly. The
poor were getting poorer, and the rich were getting richer.

Yet, equity was a key concept in the Israelite tradition. Torah (the
law) had very specific rules demanding systematic redistribution of
wealth. But those who controlled the Temple operation completely
ignored their own religious teachings. The banking operation that had
developed was very good to those who controlled the system.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole
world. However, from the perspective of history, Jesus died because he
challenged a banking system that passed itself off as being righteous.

Today, bank buildings are the temples of America and the financial
industry is a key pillar of an increasingly inequitable economic
system. Although banks and their controlling officers claim to be
upholders of orderly American life, a growing number of people know
better.

Recent surveys have asked people “who in the banking business do you
trust?” Credit unions came out on top, followed by locally controlled
banks. Then, came regional banks. Large national banks came in dead
last.

Christians should thank the current Occupy Wall Street protesters for
their message and their activism. They are doing our justice work for
us. The current crop of national bank leaders are being shown to be
just as corrupt as the Temple bankers were in Jesus’s day.

If Jesus were present among us today, he would be moving from
Portland, to Los Angeles, to Kansas City, to Dallas, up to Chicago and
on to Wall Street in New York City.  He would join the protest in
every city. He would be demanding an overhaul of our financial and
banking system. He would be standing with the poor and their allies —
and against the rich and their protectors.

When Jesus pursued the corruption of his own day, the representatives
of the religious and political status quo killed him. And Jesus said
to his followers “take up your cross and follow me.”

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives
in Palmer, Alaska.  His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.