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The
(good)will
of the people
And
the angel said unto them: “Do not be afraid! I bring you good news that
will cause
great joy for all the people. Today in the city of David a Saviour has
been born to you: he is the Messiah, the Lord."
And
a shepherd said unto the angel: “Hold it right there, chum”.
And the angel did hold it, right there.
And
the shepherd said “In the current political climate you can’t seriously
expect that any proposal will cause great joy for all the people?”
And
the angel said, “Well…”
And
the shepherd did continue, as his question had in fact been rhetorical.
“We’ve been
debating the options and even among this small and barely
representative
cross-section of the Jewish agricultural working class there is a wide
and apparently
unbridgeable range of opinions as to the way forward to a solution in
the search for an acceptable Messiah.”
And
the
angel said, “Go on”.
And
the
shepherd did point out his three colleagues.
“Jacob
here is a Zealot, all for us going it alone. Tell the Romans exactly
where to
put their Empire. The Samaritans and the Greeks, they can go home too.
He wants
not just immigration reduced, but Israel wholly re-Jews-d”.
"Joanna*,
on the other hand, she’s a Rome-ainer. She thinks there are several
things that
the Romans have, in fact, done for us.”
“Jeremiah,
he's a social activist. No surrendering unto Caesar. He proposes an end
to
Augustus-erity and the scandal of babies having to sleep in feeding
troughs
wrapped in second-hand clothing.”
“Me,
I think we need to remember who it was that sorted out Egypt
and the Philistines. Moses and King David,
that's my kind of good shepherd.
God on our side—and
a proper price for a sacrificial lamb."
Suddenly
a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, arguing
among
themselves about the merits of Purgatory as a time-limited backstop for
salvation.
And
the
angel said again, loudly: “Today in the city of
David is born for you a
Saviour: he is the Messiah, the Lord!”
And
the
shepherd said: “You’re surely not going to say ‘He’s the only
possible
Messiah!’? To please all of this lot you’d need to be a
peaceful
revolutionary
agitator who sets families against one another, believes we're
the chosen
people
but treats Romans and Samaritans equally, pays taxes but won’t accept
the
judgments of the courts, stands up for adulterers, pimps, scroungers
and lepers, resists all political
compromise and relentlessly attacks those in power for greed,
pride
and
self-seeking hypocrisy. Anyone who did all that would be crucified.”
And the angel said unto them: “You will find the baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger.”
*This was an equal-opportunity shepherd collective, admittedly unusual for the time.
Typical performance time 2 minutes.
Godfrey Rust 2018-19, godfrey@wordsout.co.uk. See here for permissions.