The truth will set you free; lies will . . .

I wish I could write a full analysis of Garry Wills' NYT op-ed from Sunday on "Christ among the Partisans", but time today will not allow (and I have not read his recent book on Jesus, speaking of time).

Wills writes that Jesus today would be neither a Republican nor a Democrat, because "Jesus brought no political message or program." I agree that Jesus would probably not choose to (fully) identify with either party, or any, and that he did not offer a comprehensive political "program". But I think we should avoid the conclusion that Jesus was not political: I am not sure that is even possible. And here is where that longer analysis that I do not have time to write would begin. . . .

One thing I will make time for: one thing I believe about Jesus is that he was fundamentally honest. Honest in the sense of being the kind of person who carried through on his vision and belief, who saw that the "emperor has no clothes" and was unabashed about saying so. This is one of the main reasons I doubt Jesus would belong to a party: he was too good a critic. Chief priests and imperial governors do not like such people-- for political reasons.

But the issue of honesty brings me to essayist Jane Smiley's blog entitled Lying and Cheating posted today at Huffington Post. She writes:

. . . While the pundits debate about whether a consistent pattern of unrepentent lying and cheating is okay or not in the abstract, I think we should also notice where the lying and cheating has gotten this country. Yes, the Republicans have been caught and held to a (minimally) higher ethical standard, and yes, they clearly resent it. But what is the real price to be paid for a pattern of consistent lying? It is this: we are in deep trouble in Iraq, and with regard to the economy, and with regard to climate change, not because the Republicans have been caught by their fellow citizens, but because they have been caught by reality. Bush and Cheney can lie about Iraq day after day and week after week, and none of their lying changes the fact the the war has been a disaster, for the Iraqis, for the US Army, for the middle east, and for this nation. The same is true for the economy (though we might dodge that bullet), and the same is true for climate change. Bush and Cheney have lied and cheated about the science of climate change, and the climate has changed, anyway.

Anyone with common sense has to wonder about these people. Read my lips: there is a practical cost to lying and cheating and it is that liars and cheaters become deluded about what is really taking place and then are handicapped in their response to events. The Iraq war is not a disaster IN ADDITION to the fact that Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice lied about it and cheated to get us into it, it is a disaster BECAUSE they lied about it and cheated to get us into it.

Smiley might or might not want to be mentioned in concert with Jesus this Holy Week. But I think she is saying what he might say. Frankly, honesty about Middle Eastern politics would have cost this country immensely in 2001 (and will now cost far more); so will genuine attention to climate change; economic justice will cost some people a lot more than others. Decisions to face those costs are political.

Honesty in seeing our society's and our world's problems is something Jesus would have called for. Not-cheating in response to them, that is taking the hard road of truly coming to terms with those issues, with fairness, peacableness and equity: that too he would have called for. These are his "politics," I reckon. Not much of a political platform in the traditional sense, but they are the only basis on which to build one.

(Sorry for the homily! Mostly wanted to draw attention to Smiley's piece.)