el buen coyote

It’s a rare gray day here in Managua. The wind is howling around my house, which I have had all to myself for the last week as my roommate has been out of town with a team working up in Chinandega. I was up there myself for a couple days this past week to attend a youth leader training event, which left me truly impacted. If you get my newsletters, you’ve already heard a little about this.

One of the sessions was about contemporary metaphors for introducing Christ. My friend and Colombian transplant to Guatemala Jairo talked about how often times in our culture, the familiar words used to describe Jesus (Savior, Lord, Redeemer) fail to make an impact because they do not speak directly into our personal experience or cultural context. Sometimes a new metaphor or image can help people understand the purpose and character of Christ in a deeper way. The contemporary metaphor presented in the session was of Christ as the “buen coyote”. Anyone familiar with the immigration debate and what’s involved in entering the US illegally knows that a coyote is a guide hired and paid to help someone cross the border. The idea originates from author Bob Eckblad. He writes (excerpted):

“A bad coyote may knowingly lead people into bands of robbers, rape women or abandon their charges in the desert. Some will hold people hostage in safe houses until family members pay their fees. Others are known to lock people into trucks or box cars and even abandon them to their deaths. Good coyotes treat people respectfully and fulfill their obligations to guide people securely into the country. This includes guiding people to safe houses where they can eat, bathe and rest. They may carry children, rescue lost immigrants, or provide food and water to stranded travelers…Jesus can be viewed as comparable to a coyote in his embracing--and symbolically crossing--people who cannot fulfill the legal requirements to enter legitimately into the Reign of God….Most broken people assume the Scriptures are only about lists of dos and don’ts and calls to compliance. Reading with people whose social standing, family of origin, addictions, criminal history and other factors make compliance with civil laws or Scriptural teachings impossible requires a deliberate reading for and acting by Grace. The Good News alone must be seized by faith as having the power to save, heal, deliver and liberate. This Good News is no one other than Jesus Christ himself, who meets us through the words of Scripture, the Sacraments and through the flesh of his beloved family of buen coyote followers.”

Like any metaphor or analogy, Eckblad’s description of Christ as the “buen coyote” has its weaknesses and limitations. Still, it was good food for thought and made me consider what other contemporary metaphors might be used to help those on the margins of our world better understand the love and grace of God.