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Sunday
Of the many things that Christians for Trump must answer for, one is their support for policies that exacerbate wealth inequality while slashing support for indigent families. There’s no question where Jesus stood on the issue. In today’s Gospel reading he lambasts those who claim godliness while soaking the poor:
As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Many celebrate the widow who gave her two mites—”everything she had”—to the church box. It’s altogether possible, however, Jesus focus was less on her and more on the wealthy church people who had bamboozled her into thinking it’s a good idea to allow her house to be devoured:
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
We have many obscenely rich megachurch leaders, a fair number of them vocal Trump supporters, who are persuading their parishioners and followers that funding their lavish lifestyles is what God wants from them.
Seventeenth-century poet Richard Crashaw is clear what he thinks of such hypocrites. His four-line tribute to the widow is all the more powerful for being short:
Two mites, two drops, yet all her house and land,
Fall from a steady heart, though trembling hand :
The other’s wanton wealth foams high, and brave ;
The other cast away, she only gave.
While Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned to raise the minimum wage, expand the Child Tax Credit, bring down the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs, construct affordable housing, and support daycare and senior living, eight out of ten white evangelicals voted for Trump. Televangelist Kenneth Copeland, whose net worth has been estimated to be $300 million, has claimed that Trump is “led by the Spirit of God.” Meanwhile Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas, who has a net worth of between $10-$20 million, called Trump’s win “a great victory.”
So who are the real Christians in this picture?
