I was in a Unity church recently and in one of the stairwells there was a picture of Jesus. He was in his shepherd’s garb and was holding a lamb — you know the one. The only problem was that Jesus looked like a farm boy from Iowa. I shook my head in disapproval and kept walking.
Why did I have that reaction? I think it was, in part, a throwback to my Fundamentalist upbringing. If Jesus was an actual, historical, flesh-n-blood person who was born in Bethlehem to Jewish parents then the odds of his looking like that picture are very slim. And shouldn’t a picture of someone look like they did look, or at least could have looked?
What would you’re response be to my hanging up this picture and saying it was Abraham Lincoln? (Picture credit: www.zztop.com)
That would probably not be very well received. Now, of course, we don’t know what Jesus looked like, but if he was an actual, historical, flesh-n-blood person who was born in Bethlehem to Jewish parents, shouldn’t we at least try to get close?
And what if someone does believe that Jesus was mythological or a conglomeration of ideas or an amalgamation of actual persons? Does that give them “artistic license” to portray Jesus in any manner they choose?
What are your thoughts on this?
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It is sort of ridiculous the way Jesus is presented in art work and movies as a European white male. On the other hand, I suppose another possibility would be to present Jesus in all sorts of different appearances–a black Jesus, a woman Jesus, and so forth–as way of shaking people out of making Jesus look just like they are.
A while ago a blogger named Cynthia presented several Jesus images in her blog. I then wrote a response in which I compared one image of Jesus to Abbie Hoffman.
I can see the similarity with Hoffman. Perhaps the Mormons were right and Jesus has come and gone and he was here among us Americans but we missed him.
And there have been black Jesuses (whatever the plural of Jesus would be) but they were not created by white or hispanic people but by African people who resembled those Jesui (whatever the plural of Jesus would be). Don’t we respond better to someone who looks like us? Who wears the same uniform? Is following a religious leader no different than sporting your Greek letter t-shirt or Varsity jacket or a marching band uniform?
Maybe I was a little too sarcastic and extreme with my last comment. What I’m wondering is: Do we Americans have an American-looking Jesus because it’s easier to follow someone who looks like we do? Especially today, how would most American’s react to a Jesus that looks like a prime candidate for racial profiling at the airport? Do we portray Jesus in such a way to make it easy to feel safe about him? And if so, what does it mean for a church who believes in a literal, historical, actual, flesh-n-blood Jesus?