Trigger warning: Sexual assault, sex trafficking

When Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him in Luke’s gospel the writer tells the reader that a sinful woman showed up unannounced to the festivities. The text in Luke 7:36-50 makes absolutely no mention of what her sins were, yet many people have interpreted them as sexual sins despite there being no evidence to support the claim. For all we know, she could have used unfair scales in the marketplace or bore false witness against her neighbors, but that too is purely speculative. What we do know is that according to the story, Simon is aghast at having a “sinner” in his home and is shocked at how she is showing her reverence to Jesus. The text says that she was anointing his feet with costly ointment after weeping so copiously that she had washed his feet with her tears and then dried them with her hair. Simon is wholly unimpressed because, according to the text, he seems to be too focused on maintaining strict legalism as his interpretation of the Law required in regards to associating with sinners rather than seeing her as a person instead of just as a “sinner.”

Needless to say, Simon is unprepared for what happens next. While he is thinking ugly thoughts about the “sinful” woman, Jesus reads his mind and decides to give a free lesson to his host. “Simon, I have something to say to you…” and then proceeds to tell Simon a parable about debt forgiveness. Simon guesses correctly that the person in the parable whose forgiven debt had been the greater would have the most gratitude. At that point Jesus utters what in my opinion is the crux of this passage. Jesus purposefully looks at the woman as he asks, “Do you see this woman?” My reading of the passage is that Jesus is pointedly asking Simon if he can you see her humanity, her worth in the eyes of God, her dignity, her being? Too often in Jesus’ day, as now, those on the margins were not seen as people beloved by God, worthy of compassion, equitable treatment, or justice from men who had harmed them. I think today that Jesus would definitely ask people to see Epstein’s victims as people and join in the demand for justice.

Do you see these women?

Donald Trump does not want you to see the those who were trafficked and raped, often when they were teenagers, by wealthy, powerful men with ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He wants America to forget about it and to ignore the pain, trauma, and the mental and physical anguish caused by the horrific crimes that were committed by Epstein and allegedly Trump himself. The current occupant of the White House is becoming increasingly unhinged as he attempts to distract America from the Epstein case. He has gone on rants about forcing the Washington Commanders NFL team to change its name back to “the Redskins” and the Cleveland Guardians to go back to “the Indians,” in a brazen appeal to white supremacists’ anger. More shockingly, he has posted on social media AI videos showing former President Barack Obama being arrested as well as a “Shady Bunch” meme showing Obama in tan prison garb holding an arrest photo with his full name “Barack Hussein Obama.” The latter was an obvious attempt to stoke Islamophobia and racism. This came after Russian asset and fascist bootlicker Tulsi Gabbard accused Obama appointed officials of “treasonous conspiracy.” He and his propaganda mouthpieces are trying to erase the victims by flooding the zone with absurd distractions.

The Wall Street Journal, a right wing publication with no liberal bias whatsoever, reported last week about Trump’s 50th birthday card to Epstein. It featured an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein with Trump saying to his close friend, “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” It was accompanied by a cartoon of a naked woman with Trump’s signature across the genital area. This certainly seems to hint that the secret the two shared was related to Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking. A lot of the above mentioned distractions and unhinged behavior is due to the WSJ report that came after AG Pam Bondi had brazenly lied to the world about the Epstein Files not being worthy of further investigation. That obvious lie sent MAGA-world conspiracy theorists into a frenzy, which sent Donald Trump into narcissistic rage. He started attempting to do damage control which included openly insulting his base. Just shut up about Epstein became the cry from Trump and his army of propagandists and fascist sycophants.

I will not be shutting up about it because Epstein’s groomed and trafficked victims deserve justice. I will not shut up about it because those who participated in Epstein’s sex trafficking crimes deserve consequences regardless of their political party, their wealth, their status, or who they are. I won’t shut up about it because Trump already admitted that he is a serial sexual predator. I won’t shut up about it because powerful people like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and AG Pam Bondi are clearly trying to cover it up. I won’t shut up about it because far too many MAGA mouthpieces are trying to switch the narrative away from it. I won’t shut up about it because to be silent about something so heinous is to tacitly accept those heinous things. I will not be silent because my understanding of the teachings of Jesus compel me to speak out demanding justice.

Jesus had strong views on sexual sin. He said that if lust threatens to overwhelm a man that he should gouge out his eye to avoid giving in to that lust in Matthew 18:8. In Mark’s gospel, chapter 9:42-50, the author has Jesus speaking out against sexual sin, including sexual abuse of children. Scholar Richard A. Horsley in his commentary on Mark in the New Oxford Annotated Bible NRSV 4th. ed notes that verse 42 is a warning against men sexually abusing kids and that in subsequent verses Jesus mentions cutting off one’s hands and feet if they cause the man to sin. Horsley states that this is likely a reference to prohibiting masturbation and that “foot” is a euphemism for penis. (NOAB 4, p.1809) Thus for Jesus, all sexual crimes against children, including lust and masturbation, were worthy of the sinner burning in the unquenchable fire of Gehenna. I wonder what he would have to say about those who conspire to cover up the sexual abuse of minors. It would be appropriately harsh in my opinion.

From where I am sitting, the Trance Regime is in full blown panic and cover up mode. Trump’s ludicrous behavior loudly proclaims his guilt. After all, if one is absolutely innocent, the best thing one could do was release all of the evidence proving one’s innocence. Trump of course has done the opposite. Speaker Johnson has shutdown Congress to prevent any votes related to the Epstein sex trafficking case. His lame excuse for doing so, along with his persistent sycophancy for Trump, ensures that he will be rightly excoriated by future historians as a hypocritical coward who refused to see Epstein’s victims’ humanity despite his statements of “believing what the Bible says.” He is complicit. Pam Bondi too is guilty in this conspiracy of the powerful to protect perpetrators while actively preventing justice for the victims from being legally enacted. As Jesus said himself, there’s a special place in the fires of Gehenna for the likes of Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Trump, Johnson, and Bondi.

Do not shut up. Demand justice.

This piece was first published on The Quollective.