Entertaining Angels Unawares

I thought I saw Jesus
on a tram.
I said ``Are you Jesus?''
He replied ``Yes I am''.

Spike Milligan
Was Milligan a believer? I don't know. I don't suppose the
person who wrote this poem has to be a believer; I'd've been
happy to have written it, and God knows I'm no believer.
Perhaps it's the fact that we know it was written by Milligan
that makes it so poignant.

In any case, genuine religious observation can crop up in the most
unexpected settings. One of my students had a .signature file which
contained the following observation of Lenny Bruce: "Just think, if
Jesus had lived and died in the twentieth century all those Christians
would be wearing little electric chairs round their necks''.


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