The McDonald's Drive Thru Greeter and Jesus

My experience with the McDonald's drive-thru.
I can't stand, and I mean really can't stand, the automated McDonald's drive-thru greeter. Every morning I hop into my car and head to work, and being a single guy, the breakfast of champions awaits me under the golden arches. There too that grating, terrible voice waits to command me to consider the iced mocha to accompany my bagel.

For those who have the benefit of a wonderful breakfast at home, in your pajamas, or who simply avoid McDonald's altogether, allow me to explain. A while back it McDonald's fast food restaurant chose to become more efficient by eliminating the need for a human to greet those driving up to the speaker box by replacing that human with a recorded advertisement for something on their menu that you may or may not have thought to pick up on your own, hoping that you will say, "oh, that sounds yummy," and spend just a little more money at their establishment.

Insidious, I know. So, what does this have to do with Jesus?

The business of McDonald's is...business.
McDonald's is a business, and businesses exist for profit. This is a ground rule that everyone must keep in mind when considering anything about these establishments. It is McDonald's prerogative to do whatever they desire (within ethical bounds) to increase their profits. If that means removing the human element of being greeted by a person rather than a machine whose sole operative function is to sell me one more thing I don't need, then so be it.

Jesus, however, was never in it for profit. When we look at Luke 15 and see the way He responds to the Pharisees who question Him for spending time with the outcasts of society, we see what He values quite plainly.

In Luke 15, Jesus throws three parables at us: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal son. In the first two, he parallels the people who are challenging Him with people who are searching earnestly for their lost property, and who rejoice when it is returned. He message in all of this is that people value their property and their wealth, and will rejoice when they get what they desire.

After both the parables of the lost coin and sheep, Jesus offers commentary on God. He says twice that God rejoices when people repent and return to Him. The distinction is undeniable: God values people, people value wealth.

The story of the prodigal son which follows is similar in focus, but this time He shows a man who values his lost son, a person, and contrasts him with another who only valued his own righteousness and whatever his father would give to him. That grousing son even rejects his own brother, who Jesus appears to identify with the outcasts that He is spending time with, by complaining that his father wouldn't throw a party for him.

We are McDonald's. Or are we Jesus'?
We are people. People love money. McDonald's loves money. Jesus loves people, and gave his life for them. It's pretty simple when you look at it.

The problem comes when Christians, who are supposed to love people the way Jesus loves people, act like McDonald's. The church is not a business, and Christians are not entrepreneurs. We have our role in the world, and that is to love those around us the way Jesus loves them. If we don't we have failed.

Let's stop being the automated drive-thru greeter and start reaching out with a human hand to love people.