Christ in the Trailer: A Lesson about Migration and Greed from a Literal Hell

Christ in the Trailer: A Lesson about Migration and Greed from a Literal Hell June 29, 2022

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Christ in the Trailer: A Lesson about Migration and Greed from a Literal Hell

 

 

*Just a few days ago, a semitruck packed with migrants was abandoned by smugglers in the sweltering heat on a desolate road near San Antonio, Texas.  In a literal hell, 53 people burned to death.  I’ve constructed the following narrative with the firm belief that Jesus was in the back of that trailer.

 

 

Jesus looked upon his disciples.  The children grew hungrier by the hour.  The mothers had nothing to cook.  The fathers labored all day for pennies.  There was no hope.  Desperate to do something…he pushed into his dreams…then his dreams became plans.

 

Before he left, Jesus told his disciples that he would be back.  Then, the treacherous journey began.  Over countless miles, Jesus was robbed…beaten…deceived…laughed at…and consistently treated like dog shit.  Nobody knew his name.  Nobody cared.  Everybody was concerned with one person…their self.  Bloodied, tired, hungry, thirsty and barely able to stand, Jesus arrived at the border.  Briefly catching a reflection of himself in the mirror, Jesus didn’t even recognize the person that looked back at him.  Although death seemed close, Jesus thought about all of those he loved back home…his disciples…and kept going.  The land of opportunity…the place where all of the fortunes of those he loved would change…was so close.

 

When he found a smuggler willing to help, Jesus thought his fortune had turned.  He only had a little bit of money left.  It was now or never.  Giving the smuggler everything that he had, Jesus climbed into the back of a trailer.  When he hesitated, the smuggler assured him that it was refrigerated, and he had nothing to worry about.  The trailer was packed.  Body after body after body was pushed in.  Eventually, when nobody else would fit…the smugglers closed the doors and locked them.  The space was hot and growing hotter.

 

Jesus was stuck between a woman and her child.  Slowly, sweat mixed with urine and shit to make the smell unbearable.  After several hours, people started to collapse.  The child dropped first.  Jesus tried to help…but the space was too tight to bend over.  The woman began to wail over her child.  Then, she collapsed.  Before, Jesus could conceptualize what was going on…everyone was collapsing.  Suffering of an unbelievable magnitude was unleashed.

 

Then, the trailer stopped.  Everybody assumed that the driver was coming back to open the doors.  Nobody came.  Nobody helped.  Nobody…. Everybody started to die.

 

Jesus’ skin was on fire.  There was no relief.  Jesus couldn’t breathe.  There was no relief.  Jesus shit all over himself.  There was no relief.  Jesus could no longer see.  There was no relief.  Jesus’s muscles throbbed.  There was no relief.  The end was near.  There was no relief.

 

The land of opportunity quickly became the land of death.

 

Jesus shouted out, “God damn these United Sates…whose greed forced us to get into this trailer in the first place.”

 

With that, Jesus died.

 

So too did the witness of any disciples living in the aforementioned nation who passively claim to give a damn.

 

Amen.


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