In Steve Jobs We Trust

I’ve been watching the events surrounding Steve Jobs death this week with interest. I didn’t know much about Jobs other than the fact that he was the charismatic leader and CEO of Apple. Starting with his death earlier this week, my Facebook page lit up with pictures of frowning Macintoshes and memorial web sites.

I admit that I was saddened to hear the news that I knew was inevitable when Jobs resigned from Apple earlier this year. But it seemed to me that the public response to Steve Job’s death seemed somewhat over dramatized. I decided to do some research on Jobs, here’s what I found out.

• Jobs was a multi billionaire who donated next to none of his money to charity, at least as far as anyone is aware. He also put an end to all of Apples charitable programs when he retook control of the company. He claimed that he could do more good for the world by making Apple the best company it could be.
• Jobs fathered a child out of wedlock and denied the mother, who was living on welfare at the time, paternity claiming he was sterile, then later admitted the child was his.
• He was known as an erratic and sometimes irrational boss.
• Jobs is the largest shareholder in the Disney Corporation.
• Jobs was a known political lobbyist.
• Jobs was implicated in a stock scam along with the Board of Apple that could have resulted in his indictment.
• Possibly worst of all, Jobs was a vegetarian (fish was the only meat he would eat).

Ok so all that said...my point here really is not to besmirch the name of the deceased. As the proud owner of an iPhone, two ipod touches, and several ipods I certainly have availed myself of the wonderful products that Apple has brought to the market over the years.

My point isn’t really about Jobs at all. I don’t even know if all those things I posted above are true, I read them on Wikipedia. My point is, why are we so grieved at his passing. Is it because we will truly miss this man? He doesn't SEEM like the kind of guy many would miss. Is it possible that we’re saddened because we fear that Apple’s products will somehow now not be as good, and Apple will diminish as one pf the most powerful corporations in America? If that’s your fear you’ll be happy to know that it is being reported this morning that Steve apparently left 4 years worth of ideas for Apple to work on.

I think when you get to the core of it, people overlook all those things about Steve Jobs, and likely never even knew them because of one reason; Steve Jobs was a winner. We love our winners here in America. We’re willing to overlook a lot as long as you produce. A few examples:

• We have a love hate relationship with corporations. We love them as long as they make lots of money and don’t get into trouble.
• Enron was a darling, till the scandal.
• Bernie Maddoff was a god, till we found out he was running a scam.
• Bear Sterns was widely lauded until the Wall street collapse.
• BP was considered a safe investment, till the oil spill. Now they are viewed as a global criminal.

Nothing changed in any of these circumstances. We simply learned the truth. We loved these people, these corporations…till they failed. Steve Jobs had his share of defeats and disappointments, but he went out on top of his game, so we love him.

So now finally, I arrive at my point. Jesus wasn’t a winner. At least not in the way that Steve Jobs was a winner. He was born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough in a backwoods part of Israel. He never really had much of a following, and every time the crowds grew large, he said or did something that would drive most of them away. He wasn’t a mover and a shaker. He wasn’t part of the ruling class. He wasn’t rich. As he said himself, “the son of man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus was a homeless man. In the end, he was beaten, berated and executed as a blasphemer and even the few who were close followers deserted him.

I wonder… if Jesus had come to earth in a flaming golden chariot wielding power and majesty; if he had destroyed the ruling class and set up his own monarchy, would the world feel differently about him today? Of course it would. He would be hailed. He would be loved. He would be worshiped. But he didn’t.

God’s economy is different from ours. We live in a consumption economy. We use things up and then throw them away. We use people up and then throw them away. If you want proof of that, you need look no further than the music industry. God doesn’t work like that. In God’s economy, people are valuable in spite of their failures because their spirits are immortal. Some of us may be winners in earthly terms, however in spiritual terms we are all failures.

Tonight I read on Facebook:

It’s correct that in a world without hope all one can do is put one’s faith in people, corporations, and stuff. But the truth is, they are always going to let you down. Every time…

As my favorite music artist once said…

The hope of the whole world rests on the shoulders of a homeless man. Put your hope in this homeless man. He will never let you down.