By Ricardo Márquez
If Jesus had not sat at the same table as servile officials of the Roman Empire; if Jesus had not broken the law of the Sabbath when he healed the sick; if Jesus had not publicly defended an adulteress; if Jesus had not invited women to also be his disciples; if Jesus had not denounced the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his time … surely he would not have created problems, nor be a threat to the theocentric power of his era.
If Jesus had not called “a race of snakes” or “whitewashed tombs” the spiritual guides that recited from memory paragraphs of Moses’ law and gave greater importance to following the rules of purification than to mercy, justice and love, surely he would not have died on the cross.
There’s a dimension that’s difficult to comprehend if we idealize Jesus’ message. Love, fraternity, justice and peace – characteristics of the Kingdom that Jesus invites us to – come with tensions, persecutions, slanders and judgments.
Numerous conflicts have arisen during the story of Jesus’ followers, distinct interpretations of his words, manipulations of his message, and violence between groups that want to appropriate his name. It’s a history of lights and shadows.
We have to discern in each circumstance, as adult believers and followers of Jesus’ message, between what is accidental and what is essential; between what has been the fruit of historic circumstance and what is central in Jesus’ message.
His disciples left us the words that summarize the root of his message: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt 22:37-40). “All” that came beforehand and “all” of what is to come depends on this.
It’s so simple and clear a message that it’s hard for us to grasp it; that is why Jesus thanks God, because simple individuals have a better disposition to understand it than those who entangle us with academic pronouncements.
Today, we also live in a complicated reality full of tensions. Presidential statements about immigration policies have stoked fear, anxiety, suffering and uncertainty in our Hispanic community and in other immigrant communities. We can’t see with indifference the closing of borders, massive deportations, the shutdown of the process to apply for asylum and the proposal to eliminate U.S. citizenship to the children of immigrants.
We are all affected, though we don’t believe that, though we think that we don’t belong to “that” group. Some of our brothers and sisters, whom we share faith with on this American soil, play along with the narratives emanating from presidential spheres, that foreigners are invading the country, that we are corrupting it, putting them at risk. It’s a perverse generalization that generates a blindness to recognize and value what our Hispanic communities contribute to the economy and life of the United States.
The process of integration between distinct cultures creates tensions and conflicts, but managed adequately and with respect, can enrich human coexistence. We see each other when we’re equals, but when we’re different we have the opportunity to elevate our sense of belonging, to recognize each other as brothers and sisters.
To express our disagreement with the new measures and to promote actions to reconsider them and revoke them could bring us problems. But who said following and practicing Jesus’ message would be easy?
In the end, and this is the radical experience of Jesus’ core message: “Do not be afraid,” because death does not have the final word, nor suffering, nor jail, nor persecution. Every day, the Spirit gives us the gift of the resurrection, the gift of hope.
Ricardo Márquez can be reached at marquez_muskus@yahoo.com.
