October 12, 2005
Crony
The dictionary says that “crony” comes from chronos, the Greek word for time, and that somehow with a few twists it wanders over into meaning a longtime friend. It’s so common, especially in politics, that it’s got itself an -ism all its own and means “the appointment of political hangers-on to office without regard to their qualifications.”
One might be prompted to say something like that about Jesus’ choices for disciples had he ever known any of them long enough. The fishers-of-men thing is maybe a neat homiletic device, but hardly counts as any special or convincing paper trail. Judas, of course, as is often noted, had the best resumé, being skilled as a moneyman and all.
If W’d picked any of them, which is highly unlikely, the Senate Judiciary Committee would have had cat fits. On the other hand, on the balance and all cronyism aside, as a pretty good judge of folk, Jesus done good.
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