With due respect to the seriousness of the situation, it was recently uncovered that the psychic village of Ashton cannot organize a protest, peaceful or otherwise.

A visitor asked me recently if protests/riots were a common occurrence in rural Nebraska. After sufficient rumination the answer was no. Not that they hadn’t occurred in the past; the great Loup City Riot of 1934 comes to mind. The communist party was trying to organize farmers and ranchers in the area to band together. Unbeknownst to the organizers the locals had already come together is what some would call a discussion group, others a vigilante mob. Before the first speaker on the far left could finish the “discussion group” started whacking them with anything to hand. The communists fled after a few moments of bruising intercourse with the locals.

Today such an assemblage would be hard to facilitate. “All right, what day are we going to protest?” “Well, Friday and Saturday are out, the Tractor Pull is on for then. Maybe Sunday?” “We can’t be there Sunday, it’s my sister’s birthday.” “How about Monday?” “Not the first part of the week, we need to fertilize and irrigate.” “Thursday?” “The volleyball tournament is going on at the school; everyone will be there.”

“OK, let’s skip choosing a day for now; do we have any other plans for the protest?” “What about the meal?” “What meal?” “We never have anything in Sherman County without food; how many should we plan for the potluck after the demonstration?” “Well, if we get everyone in town whose interested and visitors, it could be up to 15 people.” “I’ll bring Maschka’s sausages if Sally will bring her bean casserole.” “Sally won’t be able to make it until next week; she just had her second hip put in and then her family is planning her 93rd birthday.” “How’s everyone feel about beanie weenies?”

“Calm down everyone! We seem to have drifted off topic; this is about the protest. Has anyone made any protest signs?” “The school has all the poster board and markers, but they’re closed down in case there’s a protest. The janitor has a key but he’s on vacation in Paplin.” “That does it! Until you people get better organized I refuse to organize you!”

There were plenty of protests in Jesus’ time. Usually the locals against their Roman masters. Nowhere in Scripture do we see or hear of Jesus participating in them; in fact when the mob came for Him, He told a follower, “Put away your sword.” (John 18:11) He gave Himself over to them to be tortured and was put to death for our sakes. Thus the Lord brought the promise of forgiveness and, in the Resurrection, the promise of eternal life. Do we follow the way of the world or the way of Jesus?

PS Sally’s bean casserole is deadly.