Dear Mr. President — may I call you Mr. President? I do want to be respectful.
People say all kinds of things about power. Sir John Dalberg-Acton, a royal person, so probably related to you, once said that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” That seems so negative doesn’t it?
Cliff Robertson, another great man that I am sure must be an admirer of yours had something more positive to say about power. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Whoa.
Mr. President, you are right now the most powerful person in the entire world. By far. So that means you are either the most corrupt person in the world or that you have the greatest responsibilities in the world. I know all of your dealings are perfect and that therefore you could not possibly be corrupt. So you must have the greatest responsibilities.
But what are those responsibilities and to whom? I could be wrong but I think the responsibilities are to the people who give you your power and to anyone else that your power can affect. And, Mr. President, that means, because you are so powerful, your responsibilities are to all Americans and to all the world.
But what responsibilities? Here I am going to repeat a story from your favorite book that another great Man once told a long time ago. Since you have read this story so many times, go ahead and skim it and I’ll give you summary after.
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Basically what is happening here is that a great ruler (Jesus) is leaving the world for a while and is going to entrust its care to his stewards and so he leaves his stewards with lots of resources. The first two stewards set about doing their masters work and double what they were originally entrusted with. The third one was afraid of losing what he had been given so he hid it in the ground. When the master (Jesus) returned, the first two stewards were rewarded while the third was punished.
But what were these stewards supposed to be doing with their masters estate while he was gone? Or, more to the point, what is this analogy about? I know that lots of your friends make lots of money preaching, and helping other people make lots of money if they send them some first, but I don't think that is what is meant here.
You are probably way ahead of me already (like you always are) and know that in the very next parable, Jesus tells us exactly what he meant.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
In other words, Jesus sends the people that did his work to heaven and the ones that didn’t do his work to that other place. He has left us to do his work for now; to take care of each other and we are supposed to do what he would, like he would- feed the hungry, heal the sick, visit the outcast and prisoners. Care for the least among us. Love them as we would ourselves.
Many of your supporters (or do you prefer to call them followers?) are Christians and believe that you have been elected President to serve God’s purpose. That means you have the same responsibility of stewarding what God has given you — the Good News — as all Christians. I hope you don’t tire of hearing this so often, but I have to say it again. You are the most powerful person in the entire world. That means your share of that responsibility is the greatest of anyone in the world. And, you will be expected to do the most with it of anyone in the world.
I’m just a nobody with very little power and very little responsibility. But these two parables scare the crap out of me anyway (oops I apologize for the language). I know that nothing actually could scare you , but this does seem like an awful lot of weight on your shoulders. If your followers are right (and they are right almost as often as you are), then Jesus is counting on you the most of anybody to do a lot of his work right now. The thing about great power and great responsibility is that it’s all on you now — it’s up to only you to fix things.
I know you won’t let us down.