Till Cinderella Man Collapses Part 1

I'll start this one off with a confession. I was going to write about the following:  if you look extremely closely at a few of Eminem's song lyrics, you could stretch some to mirror a few pieces of who Jesus was. I must confess, I was wrong. Very wrong indeed.

There is really no stretching needed. There are numerous pieces of Jesus' personality in the lyrics of Eminem that call out to you. Pieces of your Best Friends personality that are being spit through the mouth of Marshall Mathers. 

You love listening to Eminem's music because its gives you permission to be like the real Jesus. I love it for the same reason. Eminem's lyrics overflow with fiery emotion. They hum through my  super neat Toyota's speakers with the intensity and boldness that Jesus Christ lived with.  Listening to his raw emotion gives me more of a Holy experience than any church service I have been to. Eminem raps with raw passion. He rants, he raves, he yells, he calls people out. His style and creativity bring a notably strong presence to the radio.  He does not disclose his emotions, instead he wears them on his sleeve. One minute he raps about his immense personal grief and suffering, the next he is proclaiming an inner strength that cannot be denied. There's a reason you love his songs. They awaken a desire within you to walk through the tunnels of pain and struggle in your own life, and to come out on the other side better for it.
Sounds a lot like Jesus to me.  

My favorite Eminem song is Cinderella Man. I absolutely love it. There are so many parallels between this song and who Jesus is, it increases my heart race each time I listen. 

Simply start with the title of this freakin song. Cinderella Man. It immediately brings to mind an underdog. Marshall Mathers was an underdog. A poor white kid from Detroit who grew up in a trailer park. I mean, the odds are already stacked against this dude. Then this idiot's got the nerve, the balls, to pursue a career in HIP HOP?! Who does this guy think he is?? Can you imagine the wayward looks he received when he would tell people his dream? He was the butt of endless punchlines. Yet his lyrics reveal a certain freedom, an attitude that goes something like, 'I don't give a rip what people think about me.'  To most people, Mr. Mathers was just another dude. Many dismissed him as an arrogant psychopath who didn't have much going for him. But then this guy turns out being one of the best lyricists of all time? Incredible. A true Cinderella story.

Jesus too, was laughed at for where He came from. People roll their eyes and grin when they hear this poor carpenter from Nazareth is actually God Himself. I mean what kind of nuts does it take to tell a bunch of skeptic people you are the Son of God? They dismiss Jesus with the same declaration of arrogance and stupidity people did with Eminem.Yet Jesus is very free, living above what others have to say or think about him. This ordinary carpenter from small town middle-eastville is the Savior of the world. Unreal. A truer Cinderella story.

Who can catch lightning in a bottle? Set fire to water?
Comin' out the nozzle on the fire hose, flier than swatters?
Smash an hourglass, grab the sand, take his hands and cup 'em,
Spit a rhyme to freeze the clock, take the hands of time and cuff 'em.

We hear these opening lines and our hearts leap in our chests. They portray an image of someone who is powerful, and mighty. Someone who defies the rules of science. Its safe to say Eminem can't pull any of that stuff off, but my Friend Jesus does these sort of things for fun. He is completely in control of all things in creation. The dude walked on water, I think he can catch lightning. 

The next verse is not only unbelievably creative, but unbelievably true to how Jesus lived his life. Where do I even begin??  I am afraid I wont be able to capture the fullness of this verse, but I pray I somehow can. This is Fire. This is aggression. This is Christ. All of it.

There's a storm comin' that the weather man couldn't predict,

An unpredictable storm? These words jack me up. I want my life to be the storm the weather man couldn't predict. Scripture is filled with instances of Jesus saying and doing unpredictable things. How about the unpredictability of his rage at the temple? This man walks right up to the 'house of holiness' and flips tables and money jars over until the scene is complete chaos. Of all the places for God Himself to get super pissed with people, he picks the ancient version of a church?!? You mean.... Jesus was confrontational with the moral and religious leaders, yet he was inviting and warm to the so called 'bad apples' of his day? Yep. Unpredictable. 

It's a rap, I was down, when I was down I was kicked.
I got up I'm back to punch ya to the ground, ya trick,

Pause. When I was down I was kicked, I got up. LETS. GO. I'm starting to grin as I accelerate in my super neat Toyota.  Once again, just two short lines tell us the story of Christ's struggle and victory over death. It's an understatement to say that Jesus was 'kicked while down.' He was brutally tortured, experiencing the deepest loneliness in human history. I mean, they KILLED HIM. If Jesus sat down with Em before the release of this song, I think he would suggest that Marshall instead say something to the effect of 'When I was kicked I was dead, I got up.'
It's a trap, fuck my last CD that shits in my trash,
I be G****mned if another rapper gets in my ass,

The uncanny courage of Christ. Yea they killed him. Yea it was awful. But your one sorry sir if you think that will happen again. He looked death in the eye, stomped on its throat. He is King. He is absolutely unconcerned with the threat of Death; He completely did away with it, punched it to the ground. His memory of temporary defeat is in his trash.

I'm destroying your livelihood. I ain't just hurtin' your rep',
I catch a flow and get goin',
No remorse I'm showin', ain't slowin' for no one,
Knowin' there is nothin' you can do about it
Zeroin' on the target like a marksman,
The target is you.
I shut ya lane down,
Took ya spot, parked in it too,
Arsenic flow, lighter fluid, saliva what can ya do?
Go get ya crew to hype you up stand behind you like whoooo!

By now I am dancing in my car, head bobbing, my inner Marshall Mathers being unleashed as I rap in perfect sync with the lyrics. Jesus came to this earth for one reason: To bring people back into a true and real friendship with God. The religious institution at the time of his arrival actually had the opposite effect. People were burdened with 613(ish) rules to live by. If you couldn't obey them all, well quite frankly you couldn't experience God in a real way, or so they thought.

But we see quite the contrary in the stories of Jesus. The people that experience Jesus in a life changing way were the ones who had screwed up their lives quite extensively. Jesus heals the outcasts of society, has deep and real conversations with a prostitute, and frees men from the horrendous acts they have committed in the past. 

The religious leaders and ancient bible thumpers of the day knew the Good Book inside out. Kept it's rules to a tee. Yet the scripture says their hearts were far away from God, that they replaced knowing God with a bunch of phony moral living. These religious leaders were the targets Jesus 'zeroed in on'. He openly and rather loudly, defied their teachings of 'squeaky clean appearance.' He turned the table on their idea of holiness. Its safe to say Jesus shut down the religious leaders 'lane' , taking their spots and parking in them too. The extravagant freedom of Jesus drew more followers; the religious leaders lost followers. Christ didn't just hurt these guys reputation, he destroyed their livelihood. Jesus tookerrr JIRBSSSS!!! It's why they eventually murder him. What could they do, but get their crew to hype 'em up, stand behind 'em like whoooo? 

That boy's hot enough to melt Hell, burn Satan too:
Fry his ass, and put his ashes back together with glue,

Hot enough, indeed. These lines portray a mighty power over the most evil creature to ever exist. The line makes a complete joke out of death and Satan; so did my Best Friend. 
See you can hate 'em, he don't blame you frankly he would too,

One of my favorite things about my Best Friend is he expects to be hated. He knows the outrageous way he lives his life, will result in many people despising him.  He doesn't blame them. He confronts his haters with a stern gaze and fiery presence, much like the lyric. 

This game could ill-afford to lose him, how bout you?

After seeing the boldness and strength of this man, I know in my heart I can't afford to lose him, can't afford to miss out on his friendship. 

How bout you?