Being politically correct might not be so hard if it didn’t so often demand that we check both our common sense and faith at the door.
I offer the following example, brought to my attention by some “Facebook” friends.
According to news reports, this incident happened in Seattle, which isn’t surprising. Too much coffee and rain can make people loopy. (Ooops, was that politically incorrect?)
It seems a 16-year-old high school sophomore named Jessica volunteered at a Seattle school as part of a community service project. Here’s her account of what happened:
“At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that. I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration about that and see if it was okay. … She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.”
Jessica explained what happened when she showed the treats to the kids: “The teacher said, ‘Oh, look, spring spheres’ and all the kids were like, ‘Wow, Easter eggs.’ So they knew.”
Of course they knew. “Spring spheres”…really?
One Facebook comment facetiously suggested calling Easter-egg hunts “oblong springtaculars.” Another Facebooker offered up some other politically correct suggestions: Christmas trees = seasonal cones; dead = metabolically different; old person = chronologically advanced; a mugging victim = unintentional financial donor (also known as tax-payers when done en masse).
Politically correct craziness still surprises me. It shouldn’t, but it does. But I’m sure it doesn’t surprise Jesus. He, more than anyone, knows that Easter is not about eggs, and He, more than anyone, is used to insulting absurdities.
Jesus healed sick people and was accused of being possessed by a demon. Compassion wasn’t politically correct.
He cast demons out of a scary, crazy, naked guy who lived in a cemetery, and the good citizens of that town kicked Jesus out. Deliverance wasn’t politically correct.
He offered a clean slate to sinners, and religious leaders plotted to kill Him. Forgiveness wasn’t politically correct.
He laid down His perfect life to atone for sins He didn’t commit, and He was mocked. Redemption wasn’t politically correct.
He rose from the dead, just as He said He would, and elaborate lies were spun and spread to try to hide that truth. Omnipotence wasn’t politically correct.
He appeared to hundreds of people after His resurrection—a number of witnesses that would far exceed the evidentiary requirements in any court of law—but that testimony has been rejected by millions over the ages. The unexplainable isn’t politically correct.
So, here we are. Trying to force little kids to call Easter eggs “spring spheres,” lest the mere mention of the word “Easter” might somehow entice them to wonder if the day is really about more than bunnies, candy and eggs. I mean, we wouldn’t want any innocent child to start with Easter eggs and end up with Jesus, would we?
Let’s face it: Jesus isn’t politically correct. Never really has been. When people have tried to make Him so, they’ve really messed things up. Think medieval Crusades and inquisitions, for example.
But Jesus certainly still stirs the pot, doesn’t He? Why? I think it’s because He is real. And alive. And relevant. And God. And He forces us to choose.
Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
I choose light. I choose life. I choose Jesus. Even if it’s not politically correct.