Day 305: What if Jesus was Here Now?

The last entry of the year.


The Prompt: I got this idea from Max Lucado.  Put Jesus in modern times.  He is a plumber named Bob who just fed a football field of people ham sandwiches.  He took a little boy’s lunch of ham sandwiches and pretzels and fed 5,000 people.  He goes into hospitals and heals people.  He claims he is the Son of God, but the religious leaders say he’s not.  He healed the son of a senator from California and healed a general’s butler.  Now a write a short story about how folks see him.  What happens?

A group of coworkers were drinking cocktails at their year end office party when Barbara brought up the headlines of yesterday's paper.

"Did you hear what Bob the plumber did now?"

One guy sniggered at the mention of Bob's twin.  "What?  Pull apart a pair of siamese twins with his bare hands?"

"Something like that," she sipped her drink.  "He healed Senator Davis' son.  Apparently all he did was visit the boy in the hospital, lay his hand on him, and say, 'Your faith will make you well, my son, walk.' "

The group laughed.  "It sounds like something from a bad movie," a third person, Arnold, commented.

"Yeah, and then ghostly occurrences start happening," a blond named Maria joked.

The first man, Ed, continued, "Bob is just a guy who's running a scam.  I can't believe people actually take this guy seriously.  I mean who ever heard of a plumber who heals people?  He has no medical training.  Plus a plumber is such a disgusting job.  I'd slightly more believe this stuff coming from an office man or government official, but not a plumber.  He might as well be a sanitation worker."

"They need to lock him up," Maria agreed,

Barbara nibbled on an appetizer.  "They looked into his family history, to see if there was anything fishy, but found nothing.  He came up clean."

Ed sniffed, "He probably paid people off."

Arnold finished the last drop of his drink, "He's like the latest cult leader."

Marcia, one of the quieter girls, had been shifting in her seat as she listened to the conversation.  She cleared her throat.  "I actually think Bob is a greater man than you are making him out to be.  He sounds crazy the way you guys are talking about him, but he's more than that.  I, I think he really is divinely inspired."

Ed and Arnold snickered.  The rest of the group was too polite to make fun of her.

"Look, Marcia," Barbara said, "I'm a Christian, but you have to be careful.  Just because someone claims he's from heaven doesn't mean he actually is.  There are godly signs and his motives to consider."

"But I have.  Look at all the good he has done.  He follows the Bible.  Everything he says, everything he has done has aligned with the Scriptures.  I even saw him at one of his meetings.  The way he speaks captures your attention, and when he looks at your eyes, you feel loved by him.  He's the real thing."

Barbara could tell Marcia was convinced of Bob's authenticity and couldn't think of any other ways in persuading her otherwise.  Ed shrugged it off as emotional tricks, and one of the men shifted the conversation to current sports news.  A few of the participants were oddly quiet though as they thought about the possibility that Marcia had suggested.