On my bicycle ride from where I live out to the ocean today I had time to think about the outrage in the mostly Republican fundamentalist Christian community over the idea that Reza Aslan, a Muslim, would presume to be qualified to write about the life and times of Jesus. Aslan’s response to an interviewer is one of the clearest statements about the Jesus of history I have heard.  Here’s what he said:

“Here’s the thing: The Jesus of history would be a very bad Republican. What I mean to say is, this is a man whose ministry was predicated on the reversal of the social order. That the rich and the powerful would be made low. That the weak and the powerless would be made high. First will be last and the last will be first, which is why it was so appealing to the poor and the powerless and so threatening  to the rich and the powerful. If you compare that message to what so many political and religious leaders claim about Jesus, that this is a man whose entire ministry somehow was focused on guns and gays, there is a massive disconnect. I mean truly, the real Jesus would be a shock to a lot of conservative Republicans, because this is a man who said it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. This is a man who advocated absolute, 100 percent social equality for everyone. If you truly, truly follow the teachings of Jesus -- not what people say about Jesus but what Jesus said himself -- that contradicts a lot of what his conservative commentators say about him.”

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I thought the picture I got out at the mouth of the San Diego River today was altogether appropriate for today's post.  I got some others out there today, but I didn't want to spoil the mood by including them. It's not every day I find people walking on water.