A Jesus like me … sort of
From left: Tall Jesus, Pretty Jesus, Hot Jesus
You have to be very careful, especially in these touchy days, portraying Jesus visually.
Witness the uproar in Seville over a Spanish artist’s painting of Jesus for a poster celebrating Easter.
According to the Associated Press, “The poster by internationally recognized Seville artist Salustiano García Cruz shows a fresh-faced Jesus without a crown of thorns, no suffering face and minuscule wounds on the hands and ribcage.”
Some critics say the Jesus shown in the poster is simply too handsome or too sensual. Others call the image effeminate or homoerotic.
I agree it may be a bit much, but it shows a risen Jesus, not a suffering Jesus, and it’s a healthy contrast to some of the other grisly stuff we see this time of year.
Images of Jesus are visible in parades throughout Seville during Holy Week, but most follow traditional conventions. This one, of course, is fully traditional in the sense that Jesus is European. How could he not be, when the artist used his own son as a model?
(Follow that logic through. God’s Son, artist’s son. Get it?)
Interestingly enough, I found a somewhat similar Jesus for sale at a Catholic store here in the states. This one is a statue, and it’s 10 feet tall.
Both “Pretty Jesus” and “Tall Jesus” remind me of a Jesus portrayed in the movie “Son of God,” starring Diego Murgado.
When I showed photos of this Jesus to my youth group at the time, the kids dubbed him “Hot Jesus.” They liked him a lot but agreed that he was somewhat over the top.
Hot, pretty, or just tall, images of Jesus are always popular, and always controversial. We like our Jesus to be just like us. Nothing wrong with that. We just need to remember that Jesus also is just like others, and they are not at all like us.
That’s why we can have European Jesus, Black Jesus, Asian Jesus, Native American Jesus and Mediterranean Jesus – and though the Mediterranean version may be the most historically accurate, the others also are relationally on target.
While you may cringe at the Jesus who is not like you, you should not throw stones just because he’s different. Remember, as alike us as Jesus was (and is), he also was (and is) visibly unlike us.