The Shopocalypse- What Would Jesus Buy?

Many "extremists" are calling this season the "shopocolypse"... an interesting perspective... from the movie "What would Jesus buy?" it says that America was once a nation of producers that has turned into a nation of consumers.. It depicts a little girl in her room surrounded by toys and asks her if she has too many? Which of course she did...

It then gives us a glimpse of holiday traffic and calls our "place of worship" in celebration of Christmas, the malls... our god? The credit card... which leads us to "eternal death"... though it sounds extreme... it does give us an interesting perspective on what Christmas has truly become...

The movie states that statistically we spend under one hour a week in religious or spiritual time...but over 5 hours a week shopping... It shows stampeding crowds running over each other on black Friday... and calls us shopaholics and addicts... their key statement?? YOU DONT HAVE TO BUY A GIFT TO GIVE A GIFT... Sometimes the thought or time put into a gift is greater than a simple gift card... The movie shows us as ravaging animals spending trillions of dollars each year. Going into debt even...on a day that is to really... celebrate the birth of a god-man who died for us all...

Why did Jesus die? So that we could stampede each other at a best buy for an I-phone? Or to save 50 dollars on a TV? What crime did Jesus commit that satisfied the elements... settled the criteria... for capital punishment?"... A governor in Jesus time had this same question when Jesus was brought before him in a trial as a blasphemer... the governor had a choice to release a murderer or Jesus and brought them in front of the Roman people to decide... after reading their charges.... the crowds screamed to let the murderer go.. Free him... release him... the governor than asked "then what shall I do with Jesus?"... The crowd began to chant "CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM"... the governor was taken back... he had heard all the evidence of "crimes" allegedly committed by Jesus but found that Jesus had done nothing wrong... yet this crowd... the citizens... the people... gave such a passionate plea... 'CRUCIFY HIM'... He then told the people... this man's blood will not be on my hands and the crowd responded "THIS MAN'S BLOOD WILL BE ON OUR HANDS AND THE HANDS OF OUR CHILDREN"... and they are.................

Never have eyes so innocent ever stared into the eyes of a governor... with a basin of water... he rinsed his hands because he knew...what was to come... Jesus was beaten... and humiliated because crucifixion in those days was not just about breaking bones... but breaking one down psychologically... with humiliation... and cruelty...

How do we celebrate this holiday season without a warm sense of gratefulness for taking our stripes...? He served "our" time... he covered our "expenses"... and we don’t even see Him... we don’t even look... 3 quarters of us dread Christmas... when it should have nothing to do with price... the media feeds us with what to buy.. What’s in...? What’s trendy... what we must have... and like drones... we stop at nothing til we have everything we want...because if we DONT HAVE A ZHU ZHU PET, it won’t be a good Christmas...huh???? That’s what they said about Elmo... and the Wii... and everything else... let’s not teach our kids... that Christmas is all about us... teach them to give.. Not receive... be a PRODUCER... not a CONSUMER....

We need to stop giving ourselves everything we want... and sacrifice pleasures... to fulfill needs... who lives next door to you?? What do they need? Who sits next to you at work? What do they need? What can you do for others? Why do you need it thrown in your face? Ask?

The day before Christmas... let's not forget the cross...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypgs2s3lEzs