Get Smart

NOTE: FROM TIME-TO-TIME I WILL POST FROM A 2005 DEVOTIONAL BOOK I WAS HIRED TO WRITE (THE BOOK WAS MADE PRESS-READY, BUT NOT RELEASED BECAUSE OF OUTSIDE BUSINESS FACTORS).

MAX: 

Hymie, would you please answer the door?

HYMIE: 

(turns toward closed door) 

Hello door, what was the question again?

Growing up in the sixties, my brothers and I loved to quote gag lines from the TV series "Get Smart", but none more than Hymie's innocent reply to a closed door.  Being clever kids who didn't struggle hard enough with the sin of smart-aleck-ism, we also had a standard answer for difficult questions in Sunday School.  No matter what the question, if nobody answered for a while, we would enthusiastically raise our hand until the teacher called on us: "Do you know the answer?"  To which we would offer a heartfelt, but tentative, guess: "Jesus?"  This became known in the seventies among practitioners as the Andre' Crouch gambit, in honor of his famous song "Jesus is the Answer".

The ploy was a thing of beauty on several levels: 1) no Sunday School teacher is ever going to tell their class that Jesus is not the answer; 2) even if she suspects that you're trying to pull a prank, she can't be too harsh on a kid who proposes Jesus as the answer to a problem; 3) the cool kids will laugh because they know you're spoofing; 4) the other kids will laugh because they think you're a moron, proving that you are, in fact, a comic genius.

There is, however, an unexpected long-term side-effect to this tactic:  you grow up with one constant, ever-present thought... that the answer is always Jesus.  Worse, in order to master the innocent response gag, you have to actually be in Sunday School week in and week out for several years—which studies prove can result in an alarming rate of bible absorption.  These were not our intentions when we first hatched the plan, I assure you.  In the end, the joke was on us.  Turns out Jesus really is the answer to every serious question in life.

But he's not hired help, wearing a pager so we can beep him on short notice to supply quick answers to anything we want. Jesus doesn't merely provide answers, He himself is our answer.  

What need do I have that cannot be met by the One scripture describes as: Advocate, Bread of Life, Deliverer, Emmanuel ("God with us"), Good Shepherd, The Life, Light of the World, Messiah, Prince of Peace, Our Protection, Our Refuge, Our Redemption, Our Righteousness, The Resurrection, Savior, Strength to the Poor, Sure Foundation, Teacher, True Vine, The Way, Wisdom of God, Wonderful Counselor, Alpha and Omega—the Beginning and the End?

For everybody, including smart-aleck kids, every need within the human condition has been answered in Jesus Christ.