I saw a bumper sticker today that disgusted and intrigued me. I knew that the makers of this sticker (as well as the driver displaying it) were trying to be tongue-in-cheek at the least, and downright irreverent at the worst, but something else about it made me glance back. You see, I live in Boulder, CO, one of the most religiously and spiritually irreverent towns in the entire world, so I am not exactly shocked when I see and hear things that turn my stomach. I have made it a practice to almost constantly ask Jesus for the forgiveness of those around me who so often slap Him in the face, both accidentally and on purpose. This is not easy, and I fail every day. As I said though, this bumper sticker was different. Something about it intrigued me and made me look back. The plain white sticker said in simple black font, “God was my co-pilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him.” Next to the words was imprinted a seemingly hand-drawn smiley face.
Clearly the text seeks to put a comedic spin on the popular, “God is my co-pilot,” bumper stickers. Another bumper sticker I have seen uses the same gag by saying, “Dog is my co-pilot.” The second part of the first sticker, however, takes the joke beyond tongue-in-cheek and attempts to interject some shock value. We had to eat him. Eat God. That’s pretty shocking. And as I looked at that second phrase, I remembered a scripture passage and suddenly realized why this sticker intrigued me! This simple sentence, meant to cause scandal and shock, encompassed all of salvation history!
We started off with God, we sat beside Him and flew along together. Somewhere along the line, however, the plane crashed. No doubt we tried to take control from God, removing Him from the pilot’s seat and relegating Him to co-pilot, with disastrous results. We smashed into a mountain side and everything appeared hopeless. But our God is a compassionate and truly loving God! Shockingly, He offered Himself to us, as our very food. Yes, it is shocking! “This is a hard teaching, who can listen to it?” Yet this gift is freely given to us on that desolate mountain so that we may not die, but live and live abundantly!
The bumper sticker was trying to be shocking, scandalous even, but it encountered an unknown obstacle! Those shocking words had already been uttered in Truth by Truth.
Irreverence redeemed.
