Two weeks ago, Tucker Carlson spoke at the memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Phoenix. It was a four-hour event and there were dozens of speakers. Tucker spoke for only six minutes. However, people are still talking about what he said.
Tucker emphasized that Charlie Kirk was a Christian evangelist. Tucker then told what he called his “favorite story ever.”
He said, “It’s about 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and Jesus shows up.” Jesus “starts talking about the people in power” and “telling the truth” about them. Tucker said he pictured those “people in power” as “a bunch of guys eating hummus.” He said they “go bonkers” over what Jesus is saying and “become obsessed with making him stop.” They finally agree, “Why don’t we just kill him! That’ll shut him up! That’ll fix the problem.”
Tucker concluded that “It doesn’t work that way... Every effort to extinguish the light causes it to burn brighter.”
Most of that message is inspiring. Charlie Kirk was a Christian who believed in Jesus. Like Jesus, Charlie was kind and peaceful. Both told the truth and were hated and killed for it. The massive support for Charlie Kirk at the openly Christian memorial service proved his ideas are very much alive.
However, the words “bunch of guys eating hummus” did not belong in that story. Tucker could have left them out. He could have talked about guys munching on calamari or cannoli. The words “eating hummus” were like a dog whistle. Most people did not notice them. However, some did. Those who did thought Tucker was suggesting that Jews killed Jesus. Why did Tucker do that?
The Gospel of John clearly quotes those Jews as saying the Romans, not themselves, were the “people in power.” It states in Chapter 11, Verse 47:
“Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our places and our nation.
“Then one of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, spoke up: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the
people than that the whole nation perish.”
John and the other Gospels tell of globalist elites in Jerusalem worrying about Jesus attracting followers in the countryside. They panicked when a “great crowd” waved palm branches and sang psalms as Jesus entered the capital on the Sunday before Passover.
In those days, roughly 600 Roman soldiers were enough to control the 50,000 Jews who lived in Jerusalem. However, they could not handle the 200,000 Jewish pilgrims who filled the capital during festivals like Passover and Pentecost.
They knew Jesus was loved by many, if not most Jews. That is why the “people in power” plotted to arrest him at night, after the Passover seder, when he was almost alone.
The seder is a service held at the home of each Jewish family during the Passover meal. Adults celebrate by drinking at least four large cups of wine. Anyone who has been to a seder knows that very few Jews would be able to defend Jesus or attend a trial that night. Very few would be up at the crack of dawn to cheer for Jesus at the palace of the Roman Governor. Even the disciples Jesus posted as guards fell asleep soon after the Last Supper!
I am Jewish. However, I was lucky to attend Duke University when it was still a Methodist college. As a freshman, I was required to study both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible for two semesters. By the end of the year, I was convinced that American Jews and Christians share so many core values and beliefs that we are almost in different denominations of one common religion.
Charlie Kirk reminded me of that. The Jewish High Holiday of Rosh Hashanah began the night after the memorial service for him. Many young Jews came to my synagogue for the first time in years. Many said they were inspired by Charlie Kirk.
Tucker Carlson claims that his words did not to blame Jews for killing Jesus. He claims his remarks were not intended to turn Christians against Jews. I wish I could believe him.
However, I hope I can believe what Tucker said after he told his “most favorite story ever.” I pray that he repents and rereads the Gospels he claimed to be talking about. I hope he sees the common ground between Jews and Christians that I saw when Old School Methodists taught me to read them years ago as a freshman at Duke University.
Image: Gage Skidmore