Following up on my November 14 post, another of Jesus’ “defects” that Cardinal van Thuan mentioned in his spiritual exercises to the papal household was: Jesus doesn’t understand finances or economics.  He started his reflection by recalling the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16)–remember? Those who get hired at the last hour get paid the same as those who worked all day.  Cardinal van Thuan continued:

If Jesus were named the administrator of a community or the director of a business, the institution would surely fail and go bankrupt.  How can anyone pay someone who began working at 5:00 PM the very same wage paid to the person who has been working since early morning?  Is this merely an oversight?  Is Jesus’ accounting wrong?  No!  He does it on purpose, as he explains, “Can I not do what I want with what is mine?  Or are you jealous because I am generous?” (Mt 20.15) (Testimony of Hope, p. 18)

And then he goes on to answer an important question.

Perhaps we can ask ourselves why Jesus has these defects.  Because he is love (cf. 1 John 4.16).  Real love does not reason, does not measure, does not create barriers, does not calculate, does not remember offenses, and does not impose conditions.
     Jesus always acts out of love.  From the home of the Trinity he brought us a great love, infinite, divine, a love that reaches–as the Fathers of the Church used to say–even to the point of folly, throwing our human measurements into crisis. (Testimony of Hope, p. 18)

And this is the same Jesus who has to do with you.  “Jesus always acts out of love.”