Funeral Songs

By Raoul Pascual

Raoul’s Two Cents: August 27, 2021

WARNING: Religious content

If you had a cure for cancer would you keep it to yourself? Would you sell it? Make a profit from it? Let’s turn things around. If someone were selling it, would you buy it? At what price? Sky’s the limit? Would you take it? Would you be suspicious if it were free? These are no longer hypothetical questions. We face the same questions with the vaccines of Covid 19. Like politics and religion, there is no middle ground. Even if the vaccine is free, people are either for or against it. People are suspicious of each other. Where is truth in our technological 21st century?

I heard a good sermon a few Sundays ago and I will attempt to share what I learned. To my Jewish brothers, please comment on the accuracy of my analysis.

Since the time of Adam, God had always had a designated mouthpiece to guide man to the truth. But stubborn man refused to listen so after Malachi (who was the last prophet of the Old Testament) God was silent for 400 years. All the Jews had to guide them was their religious history written in sheepskin parchments and stones. It was business as usual at the religious office — a shell without substance. The smartest Rabbis were tasked to lay down the rules of the land by interpreting scripture. The writings of these religious leaders is called the Rabbinic law. In essence a religious Jew would defend his position about working on the Sabbath by quoting Rabbi X’s exposition on the subject matter. The source of Rabbi X would be the works of Rabbi Y’s interpretation. You can see how distilled the law became with each generation of interpreters. Truth, like today, was actually opinion.

Then one day, an unschooled carpenter’s son started to teach the law. He did not have a Law Diploma yet the people “were astonished at his teaching for his word was with authority” [Luke 4:32]. He did not quote complex Rabbinic laws. He simplified the laws to its essence. While others would say “do not murder or you will be judged” he would say “do not be angry in the first place.”

Jesus said: “Don’t suppose I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to give them their full meaning.” — Matthew 5:17

Common sense isn’t common anymore yet everyone claims to have it more than anyone else. May I suggest, before we take sides, before we start defending with arrogance, let’s pray for clarity. If we humble ourselves we will listen more. If we listen more, we will have a dialogue and we will whittle away our differences and hopefully, the essence of truth will come out.

No disrespect. This is just tired ol’ me. TGIF, people.

Raoul

Thanks to Mel of Washington, DC for this joke.