‘THE GREATER SHALL SERVE THE LESSER.’
"Their vision is one of arrogance, one of greed"
The prophet Jeremiah about the Israelites.
In the Hebrew scriptures,(Genesis 25) at the birth of twins – Jacob and Esau. Their mother Rebecca has a prophecy made while the babies are still in the womb, ‘the greater shall serve the lesser.’ Here begins this relationship with God and the lesser and the least.
It’s much more than rooting for a team than is fighting against the odds, it’s about creation. God has a stake in how creation works together and sustains itself.
The primary sin of humanity – selfishness – keeps this from being our priority. We’re more inclined to think about ourselves than of those who are not related to us.” “Selfishness and greed destroys. They threaten species, balance of nature and the beautiful diversity of all that God has created.
“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Scripture reminds us that we have to overcome our tendency towards selfish living. We have to remember our own feeling of being the “other, the stranger, or the least. When selfishness causes violence, oppression, exclusion, injustice and harm to others, God weeps.”
Finally, my simple advice comes by way of Matthew 22:37-40, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Selfishness will retreat and be defeated by injecting a spirit of love into our heart. It will instinctively convey love’s addictive influence to our head; from here it multiplies.
Jeremiah often spoke against the sins and societal issues within Israel, highlighting their turning away from God and the resulting consequences.
Jeremiah 7:24: "But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward"
This passage emphasizes the people's persistent and willful disobedience to God's commands and their refusal to heed His warnings, leading to their spiritual decline.
This disconnect from God, along with their pride and desire for wealth, led to a misguided vision for their lives and society. Instead of seeking God's guidance and living in righteousness, they were focused on self-reliance and gain.
EXCERPTS from IRONY:
"After we’ve received love and being thus informed, love reciprocates"
Religion and politics have always been woven into the fabric of developed and developing societies; these two entities are often the birth-milk of empires. History constantly provides global and domestic examples of the aspirations of indigenous peoples and their embrace of the – seemingly –universal concept of God, as the creator of our conscious existence.
In his sometime perverse ambition to lead other men, mankind understands our captive preoccupation with God and will often inject a spirit of divine destiny in his ideological exhortations. We often find that men who aspire to be elevated as leaders, too often, evoke a certain cult around their persona which we may call “the cult of personality”. According to Wikipedia: A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and at times, worshipful image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise.
Learning about the personal details of leaders who exert power, or at least the illusions thereof, can tend to provide certain levels of fascination to the people who follow them. This may prove that the gap between reality and the unknown can oftentimes be vast.
Good laws – evenly applied - can be the equalizer, for each of us, in our relation with the people chosen to lead; these laws offer one and all, equal protections from unjust decisions. The law protects all members of our society and it makes for a fairer democracy. To this end, it is important to remain fixated upon these very important documents: The Magna Carta (Britain), The Rights of Man (France), and The Declaration of Independence and The Bill Of Rights (United States of America).
After 800 years, why- you may ask-does the granting of Magna Carta still remains a milestone of human history? Why does this feudal charter issued by this medieval king (John of England, 1215) still have such relevance to us today?
Magna Carta is an English charter originally issued in 1215 which influenced the development of the common law and many later constitutional documents, such as the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Magna Carta was originally written because of disagreements amongst Pope Innocent III, King John of England, and the English barons about the rights of the King. Magna Carta required the King to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the King's subjects, whether free or fettered — most notably the writ of habeas corpus, allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment.
For modern times, the most enduring legacy of Magna Carta is considered the right of habeas corpus. This right arises from what are now known as clauses 36, 37, 38, 39, and 40 of the 1215 Magna Carta
. The founding fathers of this great Republic (America), many of whom were slave owners, called for “a separation of church and state,” in their founding documents because they understood that “power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
It cannot be overstated that people (citizens), must take all necessary steps to ensure that the persons whom they elevate to positions of authority or leadership, should not be exalted within the mind of the citizen nor that of the person or persons chosen for those leadership positions. Because such positions are created -generally- to serve the general welfare of the citizens, constant oversight is required. When due diligence is neglected, it allows for mischief making
In closing, let us reflect upon these words of Thomas Jefferson, “To the corruptions of Christianity I am opposed; but not to genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in the preference of all others.”
After we have talked and tried many things (forms of governance) may we ultimately conclude that our starting point has to come after reflection on the message Christ delivered in his sermon from the mount; a sermon which infers: after we’ve received love and being thus informed, love reciprocates?
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1mo“BEFORE MURDERING THEM, THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS "DRAGGED THE WOMEN AND GIRLS OUT INTO THE SNOW AND SYSTEMATICALLY RAPED THEM” "American Patriots persecuted and tortured Loyalists. British troops massacred enemy soldiers and raped colonial women. Prisoners were starved on disease-ridden ships and in subterranean cells. African-Americans fighting for or against independence suffered disproportionately; and Washington’s army waged a genocidal campaign against the Iroquois” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wars-demonic-inglorious-war-unpleasant-reality-life-earth-nicholson-qveje/?trackingId=xf1O6lFms7%2FI