26 July 2009

2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145:10-18
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Where did that Jesus go off to anyway? One minute he’s here, serving everyone food – and the next minute – gone. Wow! He was just like Elisha, only greater if you can believe it. Elisha had twenty barley loaves and only a hundred people to feed – but this Jesus person – he had only five loaves to work with and just a couple dried fish. So cool how he fed us all. And what a mob – had to be 5,000 people, here in the middle of nowhere!! And then to have twelve full baskets left over – hmm, almost like one for each tribe of Israel. You don’t suppose he’s a new Moses? Nah. Greater than Moses! All Moses fed our ancestors with was that awful manna – and even at that there was only just enough. Here, we could eat and eat and eat until we were full – and everyone knows what happened to any left-over manna – it soon started to smell worse than any alley dumpster. No – this Jesus, he’s the real thing, a real king, one who has the power to restore us to preeminence in this world.

Whaddya think Jesus? Hey, how about if we put your name on our money. Then you’ll side with us, won’t you? Wow, just think of the things we could do with your patronage. We could stretch our land from sea to shining sea – which is manifestly our destiny – according to the word our prophets decreed. And then we can drive the heathens out, just as our ancestors drove out the Cannanites so our people could possess the land of milk and honey. But since a wholesale slaughter wouldn’t look good these days – we’ll give them a Strip and a river bank – then we’ll wall ‘em in, make their lives so impossible that they’ll want to leave, and if they don’t, well, at the end of a gun barrel and some bulldozers we’ll move our people in and their people out. You’ll help us do that won’t you? Your name on our money, your power for our people? It’s a fair trade. So, Jesus where have you gone? And what can we do to make you come back?

You know, times around here are tough. And no one makes bread like you do – and we sure do need a lot of it. Oh!! I’ve got another idea! How about we include you when we pay homage to our flag? You’d be right there in our hearts when we swear our allegiance to flag and country. What an honor for you!! And then you’ll do your part. You know, make sure we win our wars and crusades against those ungodly Muslims, socialists, terrorists, North Koreans, Iranians, and what have you. You know the world would be so much better if ruled by us. And we’ll throw in a bonus: we’ll wear some sign of you around our necks or in our pockets – tasteful, of course – nothing dead looking nailed to them. Yup, we’ll make this one nation under you, and then there’ll be no more drivel about big bangs and evolution. And we’ll promise to pray to you in all our schools, in the legislature, and before every football game. We’ll put you front and center, where you, with all your earthly glory and power belong.

Hey, I have another idea – wow, they just keep coming, ‘cause with you the possibilities are endless!! How about if we post the ten commandments everywhere – in front our courthouses, in malls, on every main street and park throughout the land – oh, and in the schools too! And if we do that, well, surely then you’d want to repay us with economic success. Our system depends on an excess of cheap labor. You know how, once upon a time, a bunch of do-gooders made us get rid of the slaves, and you know how uppity their descendants have gotten – so we’ve got something of a problem. Now, since we don’t want brown people getting any ideas about citizenship, how about you make it so that we can keep all our factories out of sight – across the border, China, India, anywhere – just so they’re out of sight, out of mind. And then we’ll make all sorts of promises to you to clean up our land. Keep the pollution and poverty somewhere else in the world and we’ll be clean and green . . . . . . and rich. That last part will be your obligation to us in return for making it look like we’re cleaning things up a bit.