What If Jesus Were Here

The Actual Jesus

A Master of Wisdom

The Prince of Peace

Son of a Jewish carpenter

Son of real unchaste mother

Not a composite

Caucasian character

Created to comfort

Blond and blue-eyed

English speaking Christians

Born in Bethlehem Isreal

When English wasn’t

Even an option

That is culturally

Chock-full of brown people

Was and still is……



Ooops, did I get sidetracked

What If Jesus Were Here

Going about his business

Feeding the hungry

Presumably, loaves and fishes

Healing the sick

Leading by example

Not through dictation

Do as I say, not as I do rhetoric

Then….

What if the media became aware

Which would be kinda “news”-“worthy”

First, would it be reported ??

News “cycles” are tricky

Could he compete with Teflon Don?

For how long?

After all, it would get boring real quick

To watch a teacher teach

If one already knew the lessons

Of generosity, kindness, and forgiveness

But was too distracted to apply them

It is much more important to pick sides

Point fingers and enjoy victimhood

Then pitch in to help, after all if

Jesus is here. Let him do it



Unfortunately, the first question would be

Can you still walk on water?

To which he would have to explain

That was a metaphor that got out of hand

By reporters Matthew, Mark and John

Going for hyperbole to sell more copies

Of their benign book of books

They should have ran it by Thomas

Who enjoyed a healthy dose of doubt



Would he get killed again?

Generosity, kindness, and forgiveness

Doesn’t exactly help any economy

Not at first, it wouldn’t

Which would be a tough transition

Share and not stingily save and store

If we learned how to sit on a bus* with strangers

Got to know them as ourselves

Experiencing similar realities

Subjectively differently, but still all as one

Which would reduce oil consumption… except

The oil / energy / resource dependent economy

Would no doubt surely collapse

Which is when we’d have to do

What Jesus would have already been doing

Feeding, helping, healing

ALL of our fellow space travelers

Not just the ones that looked like us

In order to truly survive and not some

Mad Max, apocalyptic kill or be killed fanciful scenario

That plays well in movies but not reality



*
“What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make His way home?

If God had a face
What would it look like?
And would you want to see
If seeing meant that

You would have to believe
In things like Heaven and in
Jesus and the saints
And all the prophets? And…”

– Joan Osborne