Would Jesus promote punishing the innocent instead of the guilty?

[Belacqua]

What attracts me to someone like Jesus of Nazareth is my belief that he is someone that would happily embrace all these outcasts and be a light unto them. But where can we find someone like that today? 

Yes, the gospel message is expressed so simply, and yet is so hard to implement. And of course it is so widely and effectively opposed by anyone in power, that it has taken centuries to make even a tiny bit of progress, which is always threatened. 

I think that at root, what is demanded is a change of heart. But there has been a millennia-long debate among Christians as to what this change of heart would lead to, in terms of practical action. 

And I do think that in the US, anyway, politics and economics have to be at the heart of it. Both Dems and Reps are so blatant in their desire to serve the rich and further impoverish the poor, that a focus on the centers of power makes sense. It's kind of like the environmental movement -- each of us is made to feel guilty and urged to recycle and do our part, through a change in our heart, while the vast majority of the damage is being done by about half a dozen evil groups, including the US military. A change in personal attitudes about consumption is good but only a tiny part of what's necessary to make any meaningful change. 

The powerful people want us to fear Putin and whoever is running Iran, but Steve Mnuchin has done more harm to Americans than anyone overseas. The people who get rich from developing and selling pharmaceuticals while hiding the addictive qualities, the insurance executives who are enriched from other people's misfortune -- these, to me, are the evil powers mentioned in the New Testament.