No laughing matter

A few weeks ago, as I was flying to Brazil, I saw a cartoon in Newsweek that depicted Kenneth Lay, former Enron CEO, as standing before a bearded man (perhaps St. Peter or Moses?) in an obvious state of anxiety as to whether he will make it into heaven. The bearded man says rather flippantly, "You're lucky I never had any Enron stock."

Something about this cartoon disturbed me. Poking fun about a man's eternal destiny is no laughing matter. Especially in light of what the Bible says, "Judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy." I realize that I might feel differently if I had lost my pension due to Lay's moral failings, but, nevertheless I think that in light of what Jesus said regarding judgment- "For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you.", I might just hold my tongue and leave Kenneth Lay's fate in the hands of God.

After all, Jesus ate with the tax collectors of his day who were fleecing their people and receiving kickbacks from the Romans. In fact, many of them were his friends. Even more surprising, he told the pharisees of his day that tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of heaven before them! And these were the religious people of his day! Most people feel that ,while others deserve justice, they deserve mercy. I believe those who turn that thinking around will be far better off on judgment day.