Collage Story Box: A Mess of Pottage by John Kohan

October 27, 2024

Collage Story Box:  A Mess of Pottage by John Kohan

Growing up in a Fundamentalist church, I came to know by heart moral tales in the Bible like the Old Testament story of how the ravenously hungry Esau gave his birthright away to his trickster brother, Jacob, for a bowl of soup—called “a mess of pottage.” My third collage box is directed at Evangelical Christians who have compromised their core beliefs to follow Donald Trump in the misguided pursuit of political power just as Esau handed over his inheritance to eat his fill of pottage, symbolized by the dried soup packet the Republican leader holds out to his “Bible-believing” admirers. Next to a refrigerator magnate of the White House, there is an image by the Italian medieval painter, Duccio, of Christ rejecting Satan’s offer of all the kingdoms on earth if he would bow down and worship him. Trump has added tawdry gold sneakers and a Chinese-printed Bible to “sweeten” the exchange, but as Christ reminds us, there is no profit in gaining the whole world, if you lose your own soul. (John Kohan)