The revelation of Luigi Mangione
A shadow with no source spoke with a voice like silk, which said come here and I will show you what may come to pass.
At once I stood before a figure, he stood alone radiant, and four shadows knelt mute at his feet each holding a small document. The figure was rich of birth but had been laid low by disease and four nails of iron that held his spine in shape. The figure had the desires of a man but was kept pure, for his nails stopped him from consummating his desire.
Some said, “We have seen the him” But the great said, “Unless we see the nail marks in his back and we can see a sickness, we will not believe.
A gun proceeded from the figures mouth, and children's money fell behind him like a cloak.
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I saw a figure; a low born, born to a man who worked with grain. He had made himself great through labour of his hands and shrewdness of mind. His pen dripped with blood and he was marred with accusations of fraud. One sat above him many beside him, and thousands below him.
He deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image of the man that had been poor but was now rich. The man was permitted to give breath to the image of the man, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to pay it were denied healing.
Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the man, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 560.
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I saw a small crowd protesting against the injustices of the nation, then the shadow said "Come and listen," and I heard a great host screaming "How long will it be until our blood is avenged and those who have and will judge our fates, will be judged?
"Now is the time" said the luminous figure, "I shall strike him down with the gun of my mouth." And the gun spoke:
"Three things will last forever delaying, denying, and deposing—and the greatest of these is deposing. Deposing demands its own way, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the vengeance is done. Deposing never gives up, never has faith, is always hateful, and endures through every circumstance.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, all that I know now is partial and incomplete."
And the man who was once poor, and now rich fell.
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I saw a crowd of people bringing reports of Mangione, each slandering him and mocking him. Twisting the truth of his deeds to further their own agendas. The shadow returned as said "Come and listen," so I listened and I heard the sound of trumpets heralding a hero and jesters mocking the rich and mighty.
The powers of the world chased the figure with four nails in his back but they could not find him. They diverted the hunts for the killers of the meak to the hunt but they could not find him.
Others found his name as he was missing missing from the masses but the other powers would not listen for it was not his time.
The I saw a grieving widow and two sombre sons, and I felt my heart lurch. Then the shadow came and said "Come and listen," so listened and heard a hoard of people cheering and celebrating.
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Then I saw the man with four nails in his back resting and eating, and those nearby grew suspicious of him. They called the powers and they took him away. When they realised who they had caught him the authorities tried to claim credit, and those who had been near the man with four nails in his back and had handed him over claimed the bounty on his head.
The authorities were mocked for they had not caught him through any merit of their own, and those who claimed money faced trials for their reward for they had not realized who they had been reporting.
The authorities dragged the man with four nails in his back into cells and he protested, for he had been denied the rights of legal defence as was his right as a citizen. The prisoners cried out that his conditions were poor but they desired betterment of their own cells.
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Then I saw the rich and powerful trying to silence him, and give back money to the people to win favour but the cry for blood was not silence, and the rich shuddered. Then the figure of shadows came to me again, "Come and listen," he said, and I listened. I heard the sound of lips sliding from teeth, as the people grinned for the blood-money given was not seen as a gift but as a token of fear and the rich were afraid.
Now they wait for the man to come again to judge the rich for the poor once again. For a blood flow that has no end.
No man may have two masters
Jesus taught that we cannot be ruled by both money and God, and at there is no starker juxtaposition than of consumerism and Christ, at Christmas time. This year however, there is a third contender; Luigi Mangione has become a figure of hope, and in many hearts a greater source of hope than Christ.
There are many examples of the following that Mangione has attracted, the most uncomfortable one for me personally was someone putting a picture of Luigi on the top of their mini-Christmas tree as it required an 'angel'. This may seem trivial given that people are now buying the coat and boots he wore en mass and the tree was almost certainly a joke but many a true word is spoken is jest.
In a time where Christian Nationalism has polluted the Church in America and with the Trump presidency looming, Luigi Mangione has become a symbol of hope for where there isn't one. Being a UK citizen I'm incredibly fortunate with the healthcare system we have, its free on the point of use and we get back more than we can afford. The US system is very different and Luigi's actions have acted as a mass catharsis and now the wound is open, it's not clear how long it will take to close or how infected it will become in the process.
Since Luigi's arrest people have begun donating money to his defence, and put simply the police and press have been leaking so much information regarding him that it would probably get him a mistrial and freed in the UK due to biasing the entire public. He is a teflon man, no accusation (other that murder) will stick to him.
Hark the fallen angels sing
I depicted the messenger in the story I wrote above as a figure of shadows with a voice of silk, as a rather poorly veiled allegory for Satan. Satan wins in this battle almost no matter where you turn: One side is the absurdly powerful health insurance industry and on the other is the masses.
The only way for a Christian to win is to escape the battle. Satan was also the obvious messenger because Luigi's cause and the fall of the insurers is a deeply tempting message, even as I consider it, the 'justice' of the death of Brian Thompson given how many lives he presided over and the financial misdoings that he was being investigated for, is intoxicating.
Proverbs clearly states that we should not celebrate at the misfortune of our enemies, and Jesus' teachings make it clear that we should bless and love our enemies. The epistles do make clear that we should still leave room for God's judgement and Luigi may have been used by God to deliver judgement, but that is not for us to know; furthermore God doesn't create sin and what Luigi did was wrong, God may have allowed his actions to fulfil his will but these are matters greater than we should presume to know. We have to be reductionistic, Luigi did wrong and we must love our enemies.
The heart is deceitful above all things and I know mine cries out for Luigi's freedom and for a reign of retribution against the CEOs of the US insurers but this isn't what I want. It is a temptation and I will fight it. More than one field of philosophy would support Luigi's actions as serving the common good but that isn't the way of a Christian.
We must distance ourselves from this battle; that's not to say we shouldn't oppose the US healthcare system but we can't allow ourselves to be drawn into the Luigi vs. the system battle. We have to be on the side of Christ and the oppressed, which may well put us in opposition to the healthcare system but that doesn't mean we are on the same side as Luigi.
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