Moneychangers Still Going Strong
Christ Driving the Money changers from the Temple by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th Century
A follow-up to last week’s ramble on Medium, A Tip of the Hat, about Christ the Pacifist. Hannah Langdon, whose work I was glomming onto, was nice about it. She’ll learn.
With liturgy on the brain, I’m thinking about the New Testament story of that long-hair radical going on a tear through the temple whipping the moneychangers—you know, the bankers.
It’s said the Old Testament Jehovah had a temper and held grudges. Wasn’t Jehovah the one that wiped out the entire world’s animal life except for that one crazy dude with his menagerie? Vindictive as well. After a few weeks, the Ark must have taken to smelling ripe. Even if mankind was misbehaving, what did those other poor species do to warrant being drowned by the Almighty? Is this a prescient metaphor for survival of the species?
Is The Almighty a rapper from Newark? Discuss among the group.
Does the moneychangers’ story demonstrate the Son of God had anger issues like the old man? Several questions: one, was Christ a subversive, an anti-authoritarian dude, like the hippies used to claim? Two, are crimes such as banking so wrong-headed the culprits should be horse whipped on general principles—with apologies to the horse? Three, possibly Christ just got fed up trying to reach these pigheaded humans (now with apologies to the porkers). No lightning bolts yet.
Seriously, don’t piss off Jehovah; he’s a bad ass. Though it’s rumored he lost interest in his earthling project a long time ago and flew off to Alpha Centauri with his favorite hosts for some angelic R & R.
Far as the Romans were concerned, Christ was a revolutionary. That seems the story’s plotline. Pontius Pilate was working to keep his subjects under control, and he had his hands full with all the crazy Israelites—Christ was but one of many Jewish radicals.
Like any successful autocracy, Rome relied on a smooth running operation, and the Jews were flies in the ointment. Could be sand in the gears is a better analogy. Though nailing him to a cross didn’t solve the Roman problem, given how many early Christians were fed to the lions.
A better metaphor than money laundering, Christ might have been distinguishing good from bad governance, laws that work toward betterment verses laws that simply crush spirit, human or otherwise. I can buy into that.
But as for ‘worshipping’ a deity, nah. Either life is of a piece or it’s not. It’s the word ‘worship’ I have a problem with, even with its popularity among today’s Christians.
The word’s first sense in the Oxford English Dictionary is given as:
“Worship 1a: The condition (in a person) of deserving, or being held in, esteem or repute; honour, distinction, renown; good name, credit. Obs. [Obsolete] Ext. Arch. [Archaic] (Common down to 16th century.) 1b: A source or ground of honour or credit (to a person). Obs. 1c: One who, or that which, constitutes a source or ground of honour. Obs. 1d: Worthiness in battle; valour. Obs.”
The first example of usage being in 888 CE: “Ælfred Boeth. xl. §4 Hi wunnon æfter weorðscipe on þisse worulde, & tiolodon goodes hlisan.”
from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
It translates to something about Beowulf, though my Old English needs brushing up.
Of the ten senses (and multiple sub-senses of the noun ‘worship’ in the OED, only the eighth and ninth in the list relate to “reverence or veneration paid to a being or power regarded as supernatural or divine…” Two senses out of ten, and you need the other eight to explain how a noun begun in the 9th Century as praise for a Great Man ever was elevated—at least in English—poor word usage gets to why I have trouble with the term.
Worshipping anything smacks of subservience, and I’d like to think once we made it out of the Middle Ages we got over kneeling to kings. I understand the origins of the word, but it’s time to move on. Ironic that most of the OED definitions are noted as ‘archaic’ or ‘obsolete.’ So there you have it.
Yearning to know more about the universe does not involve worship. No matter how you twist it, worship does not equate to humility—more to a well-trained circus seal. Apologies to the seals; it’s doubtful they worship their trainers. And I stopped my subscription to Playboy back in college, so I don’t worship women either. Like ‘em; don’t worship ‘em.
Not that we humans are so superior. At the moment successful, but superior?. I’m with Carl Sagan and Stephen Gould thinking that it’s swell the species chanced into being, but we shouldn’t let it get to our heads.
George Carlin did a bit about humans destroying the world:
“The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles … hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages… And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. WE are!
We’re going away. Pack your shit, folks. We’re going away. And we won’t leave much of a trace, either. Maybe a little Styrofoam… The planet’ll be here and we’ll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas.”
from a skit by George Carlin
Jesus is Coming… Look Busy!—photo by Bonnie from Kendall Park, NJ, 2008
“Shake us off like a bad case of fleas” serves to make the point. Carlin had his own dark, anti-authoritarian streak in him, god bless. And given what’s been happening lately, it seems anti-authoritarianism has a certain attraction to lots of folks in this country, without a doubt the rowdiest gaggle of football-loving, flag-waving hombres that have come along in some time.
Either life is of a piece or it’s not. One element is not more or less important—we are but fragments, and given the history of the universe as we’ve sussed it out thus far, we are but accidental fragments. Understanding something about one’s place in the universe is information I find useful. And if I am a fragment of a greater intelligence, that makes me happy. But I’ll be damned if I’ll worship it.
I’m doing much better now, thank you.