Short People

Recently, I remembered a song my friends in college sang: “Short people got no reason to live” by Randy Newman. On the surface, it is a harsh song (especially when I am a short person):

Short people got no reason Short people got no reason Short people got no reason To live.

They got little hands And little eyes And they walk around Tellin’ great big lies They got little noses And tiny little teeth They wear platform shoes On their nasty little feet.

But, in reality, it is a political satire. A few lines affirm this:

Short people are just the same As you and I (A fool such as I) All men are brothers Until the day they die (It’s a wonderful world).

Good writers use satire (as did Randy Newman), play on words, irony, etc., to make their writing/song meaningful.

Mark did that with the use of two words: didomi and paradidomi. The former meant “to give,” as in “I give [didomi] milk to the cat,” and the latter, with a prefix (para), meant “to betray,” as in “I betrayed [paradidomi] her confidence.”

Jesus and the disciples were in Bethany. A woman had anointed him for burial by pouring pure nard on his head. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, was upset and took an unexpected action.*

“He went to the high priests to betray (paradidomi) Jesus to them. Hearing this, they rejoiced and promised to give (didomi) him silver. Then they sought a perfect time when he might betray (paradidomi) him.” (Mark 14:10–12)

They wanted to give (didomi) silver coins for him to betray (paradidomi) his friend, Jesus. That’s a new low even for the religious leaders and Judas, but he was willing to do that because he was disillusioned by who Jesus was and what he was doing. Perhaps, he thought Jesus would once again escape their trap. Whatever it was, Judas was willing to betray Jesus for silver coins.

For us, with the western mindset, Judas’s betrayal seems horrible. But not all cultures think the same. Ron and Carol Richardson were missionaries to the Sawi people of Wester Papua, Indonesia. When they told the story of Judas and Jesus, the Sawi people considered Judas as the hero. In their culture, the “tuwi asonai man” was a friend who fattened his friend for a sacrifice. Judas was that person who fattened and betrayed Jesus for a sacrifice.

The Richardsons had to devise another way to explain Judas’ betrayal. In their culture, when two tribes fought, one of the chieftains would give his child as a “peace-child” to the other chieftain, ending the battle. And to harm that “peace-child” was an abominable act. The Richardsons explained Jesus as that “peace-child” God offered to humanity to end the hostility between God and people. The Sawi people understood Jesus and found Judas as a true betrayer.

Even for us, Jesus is that “peace-child.” We alienated ourselves from him, not wanting his fellowship, just as Adam didn’t want to walk with God anymore after his disobedience. But God gave (didomi) his “peace-child,” Jesus, to restore that fellowship between him and us and between one another – short people or tall, Sawi or Indian, and male or female. “Jesus is our peace” (Eph 2:14).

* Iscariot (ish-karioth in Hebrew) meant “a man” (ish) from “Kariotos,” a place in southern Judea.