If Jesus was born today

If Jesus was born today it would be in a downtown motel marked by a helicopter's flashing bulb. A traffic warden, working late,would be the first upon the scene.Later, at the expense of a TV network,an eminent sociologist,the host of a chat show and a controversial author would arrive with their good wishes-the whole occasion to be filmed as part of the 'Is This The Son Of God?' one hour special.Childhood would be a blur of photographs and speculation dwindling by his late teens into 'Where Is He Now?' features in Sunday magazines.

If Jesus was thirty today they wouldn't really care about the public ministry,they'd be too busy investigating His finances and trying to prove He had Church or Mafia connections.The miracles would be explained by an eminent and controversial magician,His claims to be God's Son recognised as excellent examples of Spoken English and immediately incorporated into the A-Level syllabus,His sinless perfection considered by moral philosophers as, OK, but a bit repressive.

If Jesus was thirty-one today He'd be the fly in everyone's ointment-the sort of controversial person who stands no chance of eminence.Communists would expel Him, capitalists would exploit Him or have Him smeared by people who know a thing or two about God.Doctors would accuse Him of quackery,soldiers would accuse Him of cowardice,theologians would take Him aside and try to persuade Him of His non-existence.

If Jesus was thirty-two today we'd have to end it all. Heretic, fundamentalist, literalist,puritan, pacifist, non-conformist, we'd take Him away and quietly end the argument.But the argument would rumble in the ground at the end of three days and would break outa nd walk around as though death was some bug, saying 'I am the resurrection and the life...No man cometh to the Father but by me'.While the magicians researched new explanations and the semanticists wondered exactly what He meant by 'I' and 'No man' there would be those who stand around amused, asking for something called proof.

by Steve Turner