Jeremy and I have been on a road trip today, and driving long distances seems to breed creative conversation and thinking. Since the technology of wi-fi in vehicles is now a regular thing, it affords me the opportunity to talk about ideas and then immediately type them out in the blog. Below you will find my and Jeremy’s latest conversation topic. It’s fun to spend this kind of time with my husband, and I always enjoy the conversations we have. I hope you do too.
Below you will find a section of dialogue from the 2006 movie entitled “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This movie is far from my favorite, but over the years, I found a mild appreciation for its comedy and storyline. This particular section of the movie is one that you will hear quoted by many people. If you haven’t seen the movie, fasten your seatbelt. The first time I heard this, my reaction was strong. It is very irreverent. Stick with me, though, I promise I will bring it around.
[Ricky]
‘Dear Lord Baby Jesus, or as our brothers in the South call you: ‘Hey-suz’. We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family: my two beautiful, beautiful, handsome striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And, of course, my red hot smokin’ wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox, who if you would rate her ass on 100, it would easily be a 94. I also want to thank you for my best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton Jr, who’s got my back no matter what…Dear Lord Baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife’s father Chip. We hope that you can use your Baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. It smells terrible and the dogs are always botherin’ with it. Dear Tiny Infant Jesus…’
[Carley] ‘Hey, um… you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him baby. It’s a bit odd and off puttin’ to pray to a baby.’
[Ricky] ‘Well, look, I like the Christmas Jesus best when I’m sayin’ grace. When you say grace, you can say it to Grown-up Jesus, or Teenage Jesus, or Bearded Jesus, or whoever you want.’
[Carley] ‘You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good so that God will let us win tomorrow.’
[Ricky] ‘Dear Tiny Jesus, in your golden fleece diapers with your tiny, little fat balled up fists…Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money.’
[Carley] ‘Ricky, finish the damn grace!’…
[Ricky]
‘OK. Dear Eight Pound, Six Ounce, Newborn Infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet, just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent. We just thank you for all the races I’ve won and the $21.2 million dollars… LOVE THAT MONEY that I have accrued over this past season. Also due to a binding endorsement contract that stipulates I mention PowerAde at each grace, I just wanna say that PowerAde is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day and we look forward to PowerAde’s release of mystic mountain blueberry. Thank you, for all your power and your grace, Dear Baby God, Amen.’
[Cal]
I like to picture Jesus in a Tuxedo T-shirt, ’cause it says, like, ‘I wanna be formal, but I’m here to party, too.’ I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party…. I like to think of Jesus like, with giant eagles’ wings and singin’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an Angel Band, and I’m in the front row, and I’m hammered drunk…
I remember where I was when I first heard any part of this “prayer” taken from Talladega Nights. We were at the church we went to before Tree Town, and the pastor’s son volunteered to bless the food. This was abnormal for him, and our hearts swelled with pride that he had grown so much that he would want to pray out loud. And then his prayer began… Dear Eight pound, six-ounce newborn infant Jesus, don’t even know a word yet… That’s as far as he got, and Jeremy quickly stopped him. I think an audible gasp escaped from my mouth. I had no idea what the context was of this prayer. I had never seen the movie, never heard about it…I was shocked beyond comprehension.
It would be years later before I would watch that movie and hear the prayer in its entirety.
Now, I chuckle when I look back on the moment the pastor’s son started that prayer. Although it was by no means appropriate to pray for the blessing over a meal, I wish I hadn’t snapped with such incredulous judgment. I now think he was just being funny and probably seeking the attention that he needed.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that entire scene in the movie is irreverent. It belongs in a movie, not in a church and some might argue that it doesn’t even belong in a movie.
But haven’t we as Christians done the same thing? Don’t we have a tendency to make Jesus who we want Him to be?
I talked about this in my last post.
Jesus isn’t a country club member, a superhero, or a genie in a bottle. We can’t make Him into what we want Him to be… but don’t we try?
Ricky Bobby says he likes to think of Jesus as a baby in the manger. The “Christmas Jesus” is the one he likes best, so that is who he chooses to pray to.
Cal wants a party, Jesus…
All of this sounds totally asinine. Who would do this? Who would think of Jesus as only a baby, and who in their right mind would think of Jesus as a “Party Jesus?”
I would challenge anyone to prove that we all, as Christians, don’t do this in some form or fashion.
Very few people would have the nerve to word a prayer as crassly as the fictional character of Ricky Bobby, but we all have our own view of Jesus, don’t we?
Some like to think of Jesus as a straight-laced white American. Some prefer the long-haired hippy version. Some make him into a teetotaling goody two shoes. Some picture him in full robe regalia inside a perfect church house. Some think of Him as nature, saying they experience Him most when out in creation. Some Americans think Jesus is definitely a Republican, and some would argue that He is a Democrat. Some believe that Jesus would only be found in pristine clean places and that He would never hang out with “bad people.” Some might even think that Jesus leans more toward being a farmer… the list goes on and on.
Most Christians believe that Jesus holds the same worldview as they do. We surround ourselves with people who think and believe the same way we do… why wouldn’t we want the same thing out of Jesus… I mean we do have certain kinds of people we are more comfortable around… I want to be “comfortable” with Jesus, so shouldn’t He be somewhat like me?
The straight-laced white Americans would likely think of Jesus the same as themselves.
People who like to party think of Jesus as a party person, and those who think alcohol and rock music are of the devil would quickly say that their Jesus would never party.
Those with a traditional view of the church want their Jesus to be in a choir robe, singing hymns with organ accompaniment.
People who want nothing to do with church and prefer to hike and enjoy nature want Jesus to be happy with their choice, so they make Him into their hiking buddy.
We’ve seen in recent years how quickly Americans can make Jesus into a Republican and, in doing so, support candidates who have no Christian affiliation. However, their Republican status and beliefs quickly win them the Christian vote, because, after all, isn’t Jesus a Republican?
People of the Democrat party want their belief system to be accepted by Jesus, so surely He agrees with the Democrat way of things.
People who like that country club feel those who want to be a member of the club… want to “play church”… show up, dress up, say the prayer, and check the boxes…. Well, they want Jesus to be like that.
The hippies thought He was a hippy. Every different race probably pictures Jesus with the same skin color and bearing the same physical characteristics as they have.
City people think of Jesus as a city slicker, and Country people believe He is a Jesus with a southern accent who likes to hunt…
Americans think He speaks English and Germans think He speaks German.
I could do this all day, the comparisons are endless…
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Our finite human minds cannot fathom how magnificent Jesus is. He doesn’t fit in some little box. Jesus isn’t just one thing. He doesn’t conform to any of the human attributes we might want to give Him.
Here’s the truth… Jesus loves the Republican and the Democrat… the hippy and the country club member… the hiker and the hunter… the American and the German… in fact, He loves them so much that He died for all of them.
But we wade into perilous territory when we try to box Jesus in; when we make Him what we want Him to be. And whether or not we are bold enough to pray to an eight-pound, six-ounce baby Jesus or admit out loud that we want Him to be a party Jesus… I would say there aren’t many people quite so bold as ol Ricky Bobby… but, there’s a lot of truth to the fact that we all, in some way, try to make Jesus just like us.
And He is so much more…
Until Next Time,
Whitney