It’s been a while, but urge to blog is slowly returning. What has tipped me over the edge is the President’s campaign speech last week at the National Prayer Breakfast, in which he invoked Scripture in support of “shared sacrifice” (aka tax increases). His proof text was Luke 12:48: “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required” (KJV). Earlier, he had quoted from
But let’s set aside the dispute about the political pertinence of the Gospel (a quarrel that, like the poor, we have with us always) and consider instead the President’s performance as Exegete-in-Chief.
The quoted snippet comes from a parable about servants whose master is away and who are supposed to be watching for his return. Some scant that duty and instead beat their fellow servants and indulge to excess in food and drink. The master then returns unexpectedly and metes out exemplary punishment:
The servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more will be expected of him. [Luke 12:47–48 (Jerusalem Bible)]
What was “given” in this case was knowledge of the master’s will, not material goods. If there is a political application, it best fits politicians who know what course their country ought to follow but are unwilling to steer that way; for example, those who face ruinous deficits and blithely propose spending increases. The Obama interpretation is just another dreary example of Biblical language ripped from its context.
This is a game that can be played in many ways. Just a little later in Luke, we find Our Lord saying, “I tell you, to everyone who has will be given more; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” [Luke 19:26 (Jerusalem Bible)] Perhaps that will be the President’s pietistic defense of the Solyndra loans and other instances of his Administration’s crony capitalism.
I fear perhaps Obama's misapplication of the passage from Luke may be simply a foreshadowing of what he intends to do if reelected. After all, the Rev. Dr. Barack was introduced to Democrat Party Convention between pillars usually reserved for the gods.
Posted by: John Olson | Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 09:36 PM