Who are we dealing with?

Before you get the wrong idea that I'm going to get all sappy-sentimental on you, you can forget it. I'm not proselytizing either. I don't count myself a member of that particular club ... there are too many in it that I'd prefer not to have to associate with. It's nothing personal, don't get me wrong, but there are just too many who have such little idea of what any of it is about that I'd prefer to settle my accounts on my own terms, if you don't mind. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean there isn't something to be learned from what they at least purport to believe in, even if they don't practice it.

I actually think that Kris Kristofferson (who might have been - and I believe most likely was - inspired by John Prine) put it best:

Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic food.
He believed in love and peace and never wore no shoes.
Long hair, beard and sandals, and a funky bunch of friends,
Betcha they'd just nail him up, if he came down again.

OK, apart from the Capricorn thing, it's not a bad summary, and a little poetic license has to be tolerated to at least acknowledge that the choice of his birthday was something less than arbitrary. Nevertheless, we like to think that actions speak louder than words, and if we look at the actions of this particular individual, the "love and peace" idea isn't all that far-fetched at all. I mean, mass-feeding hungry people, healing the sick, forgiving your torturers. These, be they literally true or not, are big-ticket items. The intents that are being conveyed by the narrative are moving, inspiring, and, if you ask me, make for pretty big sandals to fill. Maybe that's why so many folks don't even try.

Yes, I know, he was also a troublemaker. Lord knows we shouldn't be hanging around with people like that, but just what kind of a troublemaker was he? Certainly not violent (if you forgive him the money-changer thing), certainly not subversive - he insisted one should pay one's taxes (Mat 22:21, Mk 12:17) - but he still managed to rub the establishment the wrong way. Have you ever really asked yourself why? I have.

My current theory is quite simple, actually: there is one thing about him we can agree on independent of any theological or religious sentiments we may harbor, namely, he was damn good at holding up a mirror and asking, what do you think of how that person you see is behaving? That'll get us every time.