Pathetic (adj.) “causing or capable of arousing feelings of pity, sympathetic sadness, or sorrow. It can also mean miserably or contemptibly inadequate, weak, or ineffective.

Some hard words to the Christians of Ephesus

Recently, as part of my daily devotional practice of reading passages of the Bible, I read Ephesians 4.17-5.2. While this letter is ostensibly written by the apostle Paul, many Bible scholars believe the letter was written by someone different than Paul but who knew him. The language is quite different than other letters believed to be written by Paul. Either way, the words in chapters 4 and 5 are a strong reminder of what is required of those who say they are followers of Jesus.

In this passage, the writer (Paul or his stand-in) is really laying into his readers, who are the Christians from the Greek city of Ephesus. He condemns them for their hard hearts, sexually abusive language, chronic lying, continual bitterness,  rage, “unwholesome talk,” slander, and brutality.  He concludes by saying instead they are to  “be imitators  of God.” ( Ephesians 5.1)

Reflections

As I reflected on the passage, I noted areas in my own life where I have work to do. But I also thought of our president. Like those condemned by the writer to the Ephesians, the president is angry, bitter, always blaming others for his failures; he lies repeatedly, and he slanders anyone who does not agree with him. He is building a ballroom, putting his face on buildings, coloring the reflecting pool and looking to build an arch in his honor.  Meanwhile, he has cut welfare for low-income people, cut funds for education, and sought to turn National Parks into oil fields. He blames others for his failures, like the war against Iran and the algae in the reflecting pool. He comes across as an angry, bitter person who is still contesting an election he lost nearly six years ago.

He is a miserable, pathetic person who refuses to take responsibility for his mistakes, like declaring war against Iran, insulting our European allies, and threatening to take over the country of Greenland. He wants to arrest and label as a Communist anyone who disagrees with him. If he wasn’t one of the most powerful leaders in the world, we could just send him off into a corner to sing his blues. But because he is our president, like or not, we must guard against his erratic, dangerous decision-making and behavior. Regardless of what he says about himself, he talks and acts like a white supremacist against immigrants regardless of their citizenship status and generally derides people of color, while claiming that white men are the most discriminated against.

His position implicitly calls upon him to serve the people of this country, but the only person he ultimately cares about is himself: his image, his income, his reputation, and his exercise of power, however misguided.

Under other circumstances I might feel sorry for him. But he is so prone to blame others for his misfortunes that my inclination is to protect myself and those I care about from listening to his narcissistic lies. Some people say he is a wonderful person who has done so much for the country- really? Let’s be honest. Our president is a miserable, pathetic person who only has himself to blame. He is Trumpathetic.