Jesus was a Hillbilly

As a boy of the tender age of perhaps 13 I used to sit in my room and listen to that - the title cut from a 1972 Kris Kristofferson album. A country outlaw (not that I knew what an outlaw or country music either one was at the time) was claiming Jesus as a role model for (or at least an esteemed member of) the the anti-establishment movement of the the 1960's and 70's.

It was not the only attempt of that day and age to claim Jesus as a representative of the times. I also owned a two vinyl disks (remember vinyl disks? - maybe not...) on which was recorded a copy of the sound track to movie Jesus of Nazareth. The livfe of Jesus acted out in Rock 'n' Roll. It is difficult to imagine today that it was controversial. But Mary Magdala did seem a little too touchy-feely with Jesus...

Others have tried to claim Christ for their own group: the communists, the Buddhists, the Muslims, etc. Well, I'm here to tell you that whatever else he was (or wasn't), Jesus was a hillbilly.

"How can he say that?", you may ask. Well, the truth is that Jesus was raised in the hills of Galilee, a dispised backwater of the nation of Israel. Nathanael, when invitied to come hear Jesus speak, summed up what was probably the sentiment most Jews at the time about the small town Jesus grew up in: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (John 1:46).

Later, as they tried to minister in the metropolis of Jerusalem, Jesus and his followers would be recognized by their accents. It was clear that they were hicks, not from the city.

Jesus made his own wine in John 2; it takes me longer, but the idea is not much different.

And one of my favorite tidbits in scripture that helps hillbillies today identify with Jesus was that he was born in a born. Many of my own ancestors were born in barns, or in buldings not much better than a modern born; I myself have been accused of being born in a born, though in truth I just ocassionally act like it.

The fact that Jesus grew up in Galilee makes it possible for Appalachians to claim him as one of our own. I'm glad, for they surely need him...

Go To Page: 1 2