The Senator and the Sycamore tree

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7:15-16

I had to clean out my ears. What is next? Truly, what is next? Imagine that on March 30, 2010, the senator who is supposed to be representing the religious voice of this nation voted to support an oppressive and profane bill. A budget and tax law which even he himself confessed (afterwards and when it did not matter of course) was “a big blunder”. Save it Pharisee!

I crouched over my am/fm radio squeezing the foil paper on the antenna and listening to this confused savior. He was either on a sadistic frolic all his own or the Forrest Gump style top button of his shirt was cutting off circulation to his brain. Man, at one point I had to pinch myself wondering if he was singing for his supper by scolding the private sector senator like a good house slave. I personally was waiting for him to eventually burst out like the stock character of blackface minstrels saying “and unnu know masa ain gone like dis, me no wah get inna trouble. Slave revolt? Whu-rah? Nuh me!!”

Normally he has a partner in crime, but the Chamber and Business sector must have violently threatened the immaculately conceived Senator from the private sector, because his body language and conviction was like a street rogue who was caught by policemen going up-stop and told to come off his bike; let out the air in his wheels and walk his bike in the right direction.

Gordy did put in work against his holiness Mr. Hulse, though, by scoffing: “The same business people want infrastructure in place for them to perform, and that costs money…You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Tek dat Father Hulse!

Gordy’s sinfully fallacious argument is that “the Senate really has no constitutional power to stop the implementation of a budget…once the House approves the Revenue Appropriation Bill…” Hmnnn… Inna small change, what he is saying is that it makes no sense for him to vote “no” because no matter how bad the law is, the Senate has no remedy for resistance. Look yah. Principal, moral high ground and righteous stances are the most powerful political tools. The voice of the people is the voice of God. All Power is to and of the people. Know that.

The reality is that the Senate is a rubber stamp. No two ways around it. I know this. You know this.  Mr. UDP Cabinet Sect. knows this but the votes in the senate then are conscience votes. It is a barometer for the government to know if each of the represented sectors supports a policy decision of the Upper house. It is called democracy, stupid! If you vote yes “mi bally”, the Government will think that the Church agrees with its decision.

Watch ya,  Stap talk stewpidness, Gordy. The truth is that based on your crippled line of “mi bally” quality argument, you will be voting  “yes” for all bills because the Senate can’t really “stop” any bill. What are you doing there? Leave!!! If you don’t section 64 of the Constitution tells us how to remove you. We do not need a church version of Bertie Chimilio.

What makes this such a grossly ironic infraction is that of all the social partners, the church should be the moral leader against unchristian and immoral bills. You heard the Unions begging for a delay, using such words as “unconscionable” and “untenable” to refer to the tax noose. The Opposition stood and demanded that in the name of God, the bill be condemned. Even Father Hulse made his shotgun-wedding style vote with a forced “no”.

But to throw undiluted vinegar into our wounds, Gordy had the unrepentant gall to backtalk and say that even if he had voted no, the president would have had the casting vote. Boss, that was exactly the same reasoning that allowed  Pontius Pilate to  wash his hands and turn over Jesus of Nazareth to be crucified by blood hungry heathens whipped into a frenzy by politically insecure religious leaders who preferred to see murderers like Barabas continue their terror.

And Barabas surely has been set free. This is a budget that is choking a justice and public security system that is completely under siege. The less money the justice system gets to fight crime the more murderers walk the street. So, voting for a bill which hacks the budget for the Police is caving in to the frenzied chants for Barabas, the murderer.

In the past few weeks, the religious community has taken some bitter assassinations: one being a Deacon of the Adventist Church and the other a devout Muslim who attended Friday service the day before he was slaughtered. Hey, Gordy, it is the very people you should be representing from the Belize Council of Churches and the Evangelical Association of Churches who are being murdered by the Barabas that you voted to keep on the streets of Belize City.

After church on Sunday, I overheard a group of middle aged sisters checking amongst themselves as to whether they had been consulted in Gordon’s “yes” vote. They were devoutly in search of the truth. Let me save you ladies the hassle, we were not consulted.

Interestingly and in a snappy response to another church sister’s weak defense of Gordy, we were reminded of the story of Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke 19:1-10. I realized afterwards that this is a most telling symbolism of what should have been done.

In that scripture Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem when he looked up into a sycamore fig tree and saw a man called Zacchaeus. Now, Z was a big shot publicanus which is the bible day equivalent of a superintendent of customs or Tax Commissioner. The story goes that Jesus called to the youth by name and invited himself to Z’s house. Taken aback by the audacity and measure of Jesus’ address to him, Z repented of acts of corruption and vowed to make restitution for them.

Now the sycamore tree, climbed by Zacchaeus, in the culture of that time, was considered “unclean” because the fruit it produced was fed to pigs. The theological translation is that the calling out of the tree was an alter call for contrition. Jesus’ bellowing moral authority guaranteed conversion. The Christian thing for Gordy to have done was to call “Zacchaeus” out the unclean sycamore tree of this tax budget and by the force of the spiritual prerogative to cast out the demons scratching inside the chambers of the bill.

Gordy’s “aye” vote is a reminder that political crushes and alliances may go deeper than religious moorings. The prohibition against the overlap of these two institutions – church and politics – would otherwise have begotten a just objective in the Senatorial appointment on behalf of the Church but without supervision, Gordy is what we get.

The fact that ethical convictions are rooted in religious faith does not disqualify them from the political realm. Therefore the converse is equally true, as they do not have secular validity merely because they roll off the tongues of recovering UDPs screaming religiously authority. This is an unconscionable bill and all Belizeans including the Church were to have been standing on the same righteous side, instead the Pharisees continue to plot to crucify the Belizean body of Christ. So we pray, forgive him Father although he knows of what he has done…

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