Maybe it is some kind of joke, but should it be? The idea that a Christian leader has things, situations and places that he or she is above only serves to make such leadership irrelevant to the society that he or she should be serving. The perception that a bartender would be someone better to talk to about real life issues than a Christian leader is only possible when that leader feels above the people. Christian leadership disconnected from the people is Christian leadership disconnected from God.
Jesus was in so called inappropriate settings and with inappropriate people so often he was called a drunkard and a friend of sinners. In fact you would be hard pressed to find where Jesus spoke a harsh word to any sinner except religious leaders. Jesus got involved in the lives of people in a positive way no matter what they had done or where they were. Its unfortunate but there are very many people who mistakenly feel that if Jesus met them he would never associate with them and he certainly would never do it in a bar.
Throughout history when Christian leadership is more devoted to their religious status within a society than to serving the people through Christ we find the most horrible crimes against people committed in the name of Christ. The seed for the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition where planted with the fertilizer of notions of superiority. If we are honest we will agree that there has always been two churches. One in agreement with the world and living according to the principals of the world, and the other following Jesus through the Bible. Everything from Cain slaying his brother Abel to any present day christian violence and oppression is due to the worldly church. The self sacrifice, charity and unwillingness to see themselves above others is given to us from the Christ following church. There have been times in history where the worldly church has oppressed the Godly church and there have been times when the lines have blurred between them. The important question for all of us is - which church has given us our perception of God and therefore shaped how we live our lives?
If Jesus walked into a bar would the bartender think that it was the start of a joke or would he know that a bar would be one of Jesus's hangouts? Would the people in that bar know that Jesus was not there to look down on them but to hang out and offer them life?
Poet Ntwadumela
P.S. No bartenders were injured during the writing of this piece.
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