Here's a first for Happy Friday. A joke written especially for the occasion by long-time commenter Paul Huxley:
Jesus and King David walked into a pub. Jesus went up to the bar and ordered a bottle of Badger ale in a jug. He paid for his drink and sat down.
King David then walked up to the bar and asked for the same. But the barman completely ignored him. After trying several times, King David went to Jesus and explained the problem.
So Jesus walked up to the barman and said "What's going on? Why won't you give King David a pint of beer"
The barman replied "We don't serve your type round here".
:D
Please add groans, jeers, alternative endings and theological ruminations on the significance of Badger Ale in the comments....
Well, I know the (very limited) significance of the Badger Ale as I intended it, but maybe there's a sensus plenior.
Love it!
Surely Jesus would have gone behind the bar and made the drinks for others, as he came not to be served but to serve...
Ordering a bottle of beer in a jug is a bit weird. It raises some questions:
1) was there not a cask on tap?
2) was Jesus going to fill the mostly empty jug (pub jugs normally can hold a few pints) up 'alohamora' style, and cheat the pub out of some cash (unlikely, as Jesus is neither a wizard from Harry Potter, or stingy)
3) was Jesus going to wash someone's feet with the beer?
As for the Badger ale significance, there's several possibilities:
1) he was on his way back from visiting Glastonbury and decided that walking across the Channel at Poole was a better bet than going via Dover (but where's Joseph of Arimathea?).
2) he's the Golden Champion and the Golden Glory, the First Gold and England's Gold (cheesy use of beer names).
3) he came to save rodents, not humans, and was one Fursty Ferret (which explains the jug, as ferrets would find it easier to drink out of)
Wahay!
I don't know the ale, but the badger traditionally has some kind of typological significance in connection with the Candlemas celebration of the presentation of Jesus at the temple. (In America the groundhog is substituted as the rodent of choice.) I take the symbolism of the badger to represent that in the new covenant the pub has now replaced the temple. Surely Jesus was testing the barman/priest. King David is an old covenant saint, but we have new ale in new ale jugs!
I'm just amazed that anyone seeing David could have realised we was a type of someone else...