The readings yesterday illustrate dramatically the contrast between the mind of the flesh and the mind of Christ.\u00a0 The first reading, of course, is about Babel and the confusion of tongues after the children of Ham tried to \u201cmake a name\u201d for themselves.\u00a0 There is a subtext here that is usually lost on the modern reader, namely that nearly alone in the entire Old Testament, the birthright blessing goes to an oldest son in the account of Noah.\u00a0 That son is Shem and the brother who winds up getting cursed (after revealing Noah\u2019s nakedness) is\u2026 you guessed it, Ham.<\/p>\n
So here\u2019s the thing: \u201cShem\u201d means \u201cName\u201d.\u00a0 So when the sons of Ham set about to build Babel, the subtext is that by doing this mighty work of arrogance, they will somehow manage to lay claim to the birthright Shem has received.\u00a0 It\u2019s a story we hear again and again in the struggles between Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and the struggles for the throne of David.\u00a0 The confusion of tongues is the judgment against the arrogance of Babel and confusion remains the pattern of judgment the arrogant bring down on their heads throughout Scripture.\u00a0Make a grab for worldly power in the face of the Almighty and you stand a good chance of having life dissolve in chaos.<\/p>\n
Okay, so when we get to the reading from Acts, of course, what we find is that the curse of Babel is undone by the gift of the Spirit of Pentecost.\u00a0 Luke notes the irony by mentioning that the Jews visiting Jerusalem were \u201cconfused\u201d by the event and by the strange spectacle of hearing the gospel proclaimed in their own languages.\u00a0 But instead of it resulting in chaos, it results in unity-in-diversity.\u00a0 Luke does a little \u201csacred geography\u201d by listing off the foreigners visiting Jerusalem from east to west, ending in Rome.\u00a0 By so doing, he makes a subtle reference to the prophetic word of Malachi 1:11: \u201cMy name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,\u201d says the LORD Almighty.\u201d\u00a0 And so, Luke\u2019s book will take us, in the end, to Rome.<\/p>\n
Now with this vision of unity in diversity, Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 12 of the body of Christ, with each member have different gift, yet all coming from the one Spirit and working together for the common good.\u00a0 This is the basic Catholic vision of the social order.\u00a0 The strong exist to protect the weak, the chosen are chosen for the sake of the unchosen.\u00a0 Each have gifts and each gift is for the sake of those who do not have that gift.<\/p>\n
Now compare that vision of things with what is commonly called \u201cliberalism\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, liberals know how mean, selfish and evil conservatives are and how little they care for the common good.\u00a0 So it\u2019s only natural that they should come up with this exculpatory graphic<\/p>\n
Compare this with the gospel vision described above.\u00a0 It illustrates everything that is most repulsive about the Left\u2019s Pharisaic self-congratulation and remoteness from the gospel by this attempt to cover up the IRS\u2019 bullying.<\/p>\n
Some will argue that the charges preferred against the Tea Parties here are false.\u00a0 That\u2019s not relevant.\u00a0 True or not, at the end of the day, the Tea Parties are entitled to free speech whether Lefties like it or not. It\u2019s not up the to IRS to decide who needs to be punished for Incorrect Views. \u201cThey had it coming\u201d is a massively stupid thing for any American of any persuasion to embrace, because the next time it will be the creators of this graphic and their fellow ideologues who are being punished for Ungoodthink by some administration that has designated them<\/em> the enemy.<\/p>\n Dudes, when the IRS is asking for the freaking *content of people\u2019s prayers* they are way the hell out of line. So stop making excuses for it simply because it\u2019s being done to somebody you dislike. Snobbily trying to shift the focus from the perps to the victims by saying, in effect, \u201cEw!\u00a0 *Those* kind of people are complaining, so it\u2019s no problem\u201d is just begging to make the IRS a permanent\u00a0protection racket used by the Imperial Presidency to punish political enemies.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll be next as soon as your tribe is out of power.<\/p>\n What that graphic boils down to is a celebration of seizing the One Ring.\u00a0 It\u2019s as far from loving the common good as you can get.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take Pentecost over this kind of partisanship any day.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The readings yesterday illustrate dramatically the contrast between the mind of the flesh and the mind of Christ.\u00a0 The first reading, of course, is about Babel and the confusion of tongues after the children of Ham tried to \u201cmake a name\u201d for themselves.\u00a0 There is a subtext here that is usually lost on the modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-44697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-the-thing-that-used-to-be-liberalism"],"yoast_head":"\n