An Incident in London

When I was attending the Notre Dame Law School’s London program to complete my second year of law school, I heard that a young black gentleman had walked into the law center and announced that he was Jesus Christ.  Happily enough, no one was injured.  At this point, I want to assure everyone that I’m not trying to rag on anybody’s religion, but I think it’s an interesting question: what would you do if you were confronted by such a figure.  I once read of a psychologist who treated a patient who claimed to be Jesus Christ.  The good doctor said to him, “Great! We can put you to work in the carpenter’s shop.” I wonder if I’d been in the law center at the time, would I have had the presence of mind to say: a) “Great!  Everybody here could use a good foot-washing,” and/or B) “Can you turn our water into wine.”  This incident did not make the papers and that young fellow never bothered to make a second coming.  I can’t help but point out that the consequences of such a declaration are a great deal different in the present day than they were in Palestine in the early part of the first century A.D. (or if you prefer, C.E)  If a young fellow announced that he was Jesus of Nazareth, that would not be a problem, but if he declared himself to be Jesus *Christ,* things would be a great deal different, since the term “Christ” declared a claim to be the messiah and the leader of the Jewish nation. First, the Jewish high priest, Kaifus, would want him to be stoned to death for blasphemy, and the Roman Governor Pontius Pilot would want him to be crucified for sedition.  I am glad I’ve had the good fortune to be born in this era.