The Ministry of Food

As someone who is "big-boned", I have been interested in the plethora of reality television shows that all revolve around heavy people. There is the one that is truly inspiring, The Biggest Looser, as well as many others that seem to be more like exploitation projects: Dance Your Ass Off and More to Love. Either way, I love to watch them all with a bowl of ice cream. This Spring, ABC is looking to continue the trend with a new reality television show revolving around America’s “fattest” city, Huntington W.VA. The show entitled “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” will host British Celeb Chef Jamie Oliver, many of you will know him as the Naked Chef, as he seeks to get an entire town to stop eating deep fried food and switch to more organic foods. (The most popular restaurant in Huntington is the Hillbilly Hotdog where they serve a fifteen pound hamburger).

A number of news agencies have picked up the story because evidently the town, which was initially thrilled with the idea, is not as excited as they once were with the diet plan...I can totally relate. Surprise, Surprise, many of the local town bureaucrats, parents, and teenagers don’t like being told that they are over weight and have failed as a community. The good citizens claim that the show will give their town a negative image, and not only affect tourism but people’s desire to move to Huntington W.VA. While that all may be true, I think Alex Witchell of the NYT nails the real reason for pushback when he writes with regards to the town’s response, “The reason the world is still waiting for the Messiah is that most people don’t actually want one, no matter how many fresh fruits and vegetables he’s carrying.”

That statement leads to two very interesting observations in light of the human condition and its interaction with the real Messiah, Jesus Christ. The first is everybody knows what they should be doing, the problem is no one is doing it; they are incapable of doing it, and they hate being told to do it (Romans 7). Second, this is exactly why nobody wants a messiah, ignorance is bliss. We don’t want our short comings and failures pointed out. We like living with the idea that everything is just fine and I am o.k. in the warm caress of the Hillbilly Hotdog or whatever your version of that is. However, unlike Jamie Christ, Jesus Christ doesn’t beckon us to clean up and get fit. Rather, through his cross he not only demonstrates our failures, but dies for and forgives them.