Hello, I Must Be Going
Scene from Animal Crackers
Those of us old enough to remember Groucho Marx and his brothers may find a touch of irony in today's lesson.
In the 1930 movie, Animal Crackers, Groucho plays an explorer, Captain Spaulding, who is being honored at a lavish house party. In typical intentionally confusing and disrespectful style, Groucho enters with the song, Hello, I Must Be Going, the title he later used for his memoirs.
He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me,“Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” - Luke 13:32-33
So, was Jesus playing a Groucho on Herod and the Pharisees who warned him that the king wanted to kill him?
It is believed that Jesus is in Herod's territory, not in Jerusalem, when he is confronted, and while he says he will be leaving, it is not immediate.
He will continue doing what has annoyed the fox for three more days, a short period of time that may be symbolic as well as accurate.
Like Captain Spaulding, Jesus shows little or no respect for his host. He has a job to do and the heathen can be damned. Besides, he says, there is no real threat for prophets are only killed in Jerusalem. (John the Baptist may be the only exception to this.)
Comparing Jesus to Groucho's character is undoubtably in as bad taste as many of Groucho's jokes, but it gives us a way of experiencing what Jesus says and does that explains why he was viewed as both a threat and a rebel.
He says what is on his mind without lessening the saltiness or bitterness of his words, and he plays games with his stories to make sure they can be heard in more than one way.
He uses language, culture and symbolism to make a point, without having to say it in a way that he could be accused of blasphemy or sedition - most of the time, that is.
Groucho's content was racy and filled with sexual innuendo. Jesus used a different approach. His content was about hypocrisy.
Those of us who are students of the Groucho-esque method of complementing with a swift backhand, get it when we hear Jesus rail against the establishment of persecution and torture. We hear the biting wit and the tinge of disrespect and applaud, just as if we were watching a comedic masterpiece.
We can look at Jesus and hail, Hooray for Captain Spaulding, knowing that only a few would understand that as a compliment and a sign of true respect.
OK. Maybe not. But it is fun to think that some of the people hearing Jesus say these things would have chuckled and shared the stories in private with their friends over drinks.
Shouldn't we do the same?
More to come...