Small Town Scene
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It was hotter than hades in South Judea that summer. This was before they knew about climate change, global warming, and rising sea levels. People got mad when it was hot, and when they were angry, they could be manipulated. Never wanting to miss a chance at good old-fashioned cultural warfare and send a message to a teacher from Galilee, the hit songwriters behind the skull-crushing Psalm (68), “But God will shatter the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk in their guilty ways,” decided to write a new single, “Try That In A Small Town.”
This teacher, Jesus from Nazareth, tried lots of things in small towns up and down the area around the Sea of Galilee. He healed people with various illnesses, fed hungry people, and it was even said he brought the dead back to life. He did not care how long their families had lived in any one community, if they were Roman, Greek, or Jewish, or whom they loved. It was noted that he showed little respect for centuries-old religious norms as proscribed in the Torah. His concern for the Sabbath was questionable, and the people he associated with were troublesome. This worried the good, the righteous, and holy songwriters the most. Jesus said Samaritan Lives Mattered. Can you believe it? The nerve of that guy, walking around Galilee with prostitutes, fishermen, and tax collectors saying that Samaritan Lives Matter? What’s next, prostitutes’ lives matter? Thousands of people followed him everywhere he went, nearly creating riots, as they clamored for God’s justice and the coming Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tried and did this in small towns all over Galilee, and people seemed to love his message of love, peace, inclusion, justice, and life made whole.
To the songwriters further south, Jerusalem-ville, a larger town (but still small for that side of the Mediterranean) trying to heal, bring large groups of multi-ethnic people together, feeding the hungry, refusing to condemn Samaritans outright, being practical about Sabbath rules, and loving your neighbor as your love yourself threatened their power. Remember they had a monopoly on songs and songwriting; their version of God was God as portrayed in Psalm 68, the butt-kicking, skull-crushing God. They didn’t need some long-haired Birkenstock-wearing, Samaritan-lives-matter preacher taking his message of love, inclusion, feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, and hanging out semi-literate fishermen south to Jerusalem. No sir, they said. We’d show him. They would write a hit new psalm directed to Jesus and his followers, telling them what not to try in their small town of Jerusalem.
Here’s what they wrote:
Cuss out a cop, spit in his face (The centurions cussed at Jesus and spit in his face.)
Stomp on the flag and light it up. (Jesus turned over the tables in the temple, the equivalent of stomping on the flag. That’s lighting it up.)
Yeah, ya think you’re tough. (He’s the toughest pacifist I know.)
Well, try that in a small town (Jesus did.)
See how far ya make it down the road (He was made to carry the cross down the road to his death.)
Around here, we take care of our own (Really, no one took care of Jesus. You let him die.)
You cross that line; it won’t take long (It didn’t take long, within a week of coming to Jerusalem, he died.)
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town (He came to a small town and died.)
Got a gun that my granddad gave me (The swords passed from Roman to Roman and Zealot to Zealot.)
They say one day they’re gonna round up (Isaiah said beat your swords into plowshares; violence isn’t the answer. Why do you so openly contradict the words of Jesus?)
Full of good ol’ boys, raised up right (Is a good ol’ boy, raised-right-one that kills a non-violent Jesus?)
If you’re looking for a fight (He wasn’t looking for a fight. You were.)
Try that in a small town (Jesus did.)
Try that in a small town (Jesus did.)
This glorified small-town mindset, unchanged from the 1st to the 21st century, aided and abetted the persecution and suffering of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the person that country singer Jason Aldean is warning not to try these things in his version of small-town America.
Before you get ready to jump on the culture war bandwagon and scream, “Hell, yeah, Jason, tell it like it is!” ask yourself: who tried everything he ever tried in a small town and paid for it with his life because the locals took care of their own and killed him? That would be Jesus. In this battle, whose side do you want to be on, Jesus’ or Jason Aldean’s?