Jesus & Speeding Tickets

At a church in Sedona, the pastor preached that when he drives, he needs Jesus to take over behind the wheel. Because when he drives his anger and frustration emerge. He encouraged the congregation to turn their motor vehicles over to Jesus. In essence, you would become a passenger with Jesus as the divine Cruise Control.

As I listened to him, I thought if Jesus were born today, would he ever get a speeding ticket? While driving on Dove Valley Parkway in Phoenix, would he drive the legal limit while raging drivers tailgated him and flashed lights to pass? Here is how it would have played out …

“And the 12 interns of Jesus followed him in his crimson sparkle red Kia Soul (custom plate “4GIVE”) as he traveled the Dove Valley Parkway in moderate traffic. Jesus, late for a speaking engagement at a Scottsdale synagogue, drove ten miles over the limit on the road that ran through pristine desert.

While at the lunch, one of the interns clicked on his phone video and interviewed Jesus on why he drove over the speed limit. “Was it a sin?”

Jesus smiled and said, “The speed limit was made for people and not people for the speed limit. Put some Soul in your drive!”

The Sedona pastor lacked “SOUL” in his message. Attempting to transform human activities into a mindless, soulless default to the Creator, he forgot that “Soul” living means both the upward connection with the Divine and the horizontal relationship with our fellow travelers.

Too many followers seek an “automatic” spiritual life when Jesus drives a 5-speed.

Postscript: For extra credit study the Early Church at its struggle against Gnostic Dualism – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism?fbclid=IwAR3eqnVsznSUawB7yU5BiwALJAW0ktamEkKPUFagytAlaK9tSxo0b7yer7U