I stumbled across a YouTube video recently of Peppa Pig being crucified. I was horrified that someone would take this children’s television character and use it for such a blasphemous purpose. The maker of the video clip tried to justify his actions by arguing that pigs too needed a Jesus figure and that he was trying to correct the missing ingredient of religion in children’s stories. That sounds pious and noble but in my view the video clip mocked God.
At the time I was reading for my devotions the story of the prophet Elisha. Early in his ministry, soon after he took over from Elijah (who was taken to heaven in a whirlwind), Elisha was mocked by a crowd of youths as he approached the town of Bethel. They shouted out to this servant of God, “Go on up, you baldhead! Go on up you baldhead!” The story in 2Kings 3 tells how Elisha turned around and cursed them in the name of the Lord. That had a horrible outworking as two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.
It’s tempting to see this action by Elisha as vindictive and out of character. Gentle, caring Elisha… but he produces so much suffering in the town of Bethel. I try to imagine the horror in the homes of that town that evening. There are the bereaved families of the casualties of the bear-attack. There are the horrendous wounds of the survivors. And it’s all because Elisha couldn’t handle some kids calling him names…?
But reflecting on this story one becomes aware of some deeper issues. Bethel was the town where Jeroboam had set up his calf idol in opposition to the worship of the true God. It was a place where the servant of the true God was not welcome. And then there is the size of the crowd of young mockers. A couple of kids might spontaneously taunt someone – but a crowd of more than forty-two? The finger of suspicion would point to the priests of the calf-idols organising a rent-a-crowd to keep God’s prophet out of Bethel.
Some commentators believe that that the label ‘baldhead’ may have been an allusion to leprosy which often left people bald (making Elisha an outcast) and that ‘go on up’ was a way of telling Elisha to disappear – to do an ascension into heaven like Elijah. In any case, this man was no ordinary person – he was God’s anointed spokesman, God’s representative in Israel. So the title above this story should read: Warning! God is not mocked!
Every mocker will one day stand before God to give an account of his mockery to the Almighty. But sadly, the story of the bears mauling those youths, show that mockery of God sometimes meets with judgment already in this life.
In 1902 the eruption of Mt Pelee blew into oblivion the beautiful Caribbean city of St Pierre. Some 29,000 people were killed. But that city had many mockers of God. Over the preceding Easter they “crucified” a pig. The spectacle had gone over so well with the crowd that they decided on a repeat performance on the Ascension Day holiday – for the benefit of those who missed it at Easter. That never happened. God is not mocked.
In 1908 the beautiful port-city of Messina in Sicily was flattened by 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Was it a coincidence that a little earlier a satirical newspaper had published a blasphemous poem that mocked Jesus? The poem claimed that no one believed in Him anymore and that if He existed he should prove his existence by something like an earthquake. A few days later He did. God is not mocked.
I’m tempted to include some more example but you probably get the point: Mockers beware! This doesn’t mean that I can curse, in the name of the Lord, those who mock me for my faith in Jesus. I am not Elisha. And the place I live is not Bethel. But I do need to say to mockers today that while God is wonderfully patient and wants no one to perish, there are limits to His grace.
Especially the crucifixion of Jesus is not to be mocked… it is God’s gift for our salvation. And that salvation is ultimately broad enough to take in the redemption of all of creation – even pigs.
John Westendorp