Be honest.
Do you ever get the feeling that Jesus would never choose to hang out in the places we’ve built for him? Do you ever feel like Jesus’ message of radical love, mercy and forgiveness has been drowned out by the voices of judgment, condemnation, and stagnant ritualistic religion? Do you ever get the sense that the church was never meant to be about helping itself, but about helping the world? Do you ever get the nagging feeling that Jesus never intended the church to be comfortable and controlled, but instead an untamable movement that challenges the way things have always been done? Have you ever longed to be a part of a community that isn’t afraid to experience God in new and creative ways? (Yeah, us too.)
Poster
A group called Heavenly Sanctuary, based in Seattle Washington, hired an artist to paint a depiction of Jesus to use on posters in Seattle shopping malls. No sooner had the posters gone up than angry calls began flooding in. There was such an outcry against this depiction of Jesus that all the malls decided to take the posters down.
So what do you think?
Would Jesus wash the feet of world leaders, including a terrorist like Osama Bin Laden?
14 comments:
Jesus absolutely would...the real question is would I?
There's no doubt in my mind Jesus would...
I totally agree with whaat anonymous said... Jesus absolutely would and doesn't he pose the great question "would I"
Scott - your blogs make for great reading and thinking - thanks!
Yes he would...Still, I often get uncomfortable when politics and Jesus are put together. Was the original intent to say something about Jesus, or to simply agitate people?
And...does this depiction of Jesus really represent him fully? Is God not also a God of justice? His personhood is not as flat and one-sided as some my intuit from this painting. While Jesus' love is open to all, no matter what they have done, It is clear from the gospels that Jesus does not condone evil. Those that do not understand the ancient practice of footwashing and what it meant in the gospel accounts may interpret this painting as saying that Jesus doesn't care, or sets aside the evil that has been perpetrated by some of the figures.
I completely agree with Jim re: the one-sidedness of Jesus that this depicts. I also am sure that Jesus would wash Bin-Laden's feet, and am completely convinced that if the Savior of the world sat at the feet of Osama Bin-Laden and performed a foot washing on him, Osama would fall to his face at the glory of the revealed God.
Thinking back to the circumstances under which Jesus conducted the foot washing, it was with his disciples. They were his chosen, from various social standings and all of them sinners.They had heard his teachings and had all made a choice to follow Him for their own reasons and motives ( I think of the cross section of personalities from Judas Iscariot to John, Peter and Thomas). Peter became indignant when Jesus "lowered" himself to the roll of foot washing, but Jesus explained why he was doing it and used it as a very powerful lesson. For the people depicted in the painting to actually come together and be participating (submitting) to the foot washing at the point shown in the picture, they must have come to a level of understanding of who Jesus is, why he is performing the foot washing, and willingly participating (submitting)to the lesson. We can only guess at the level that their hearts were softened (i.e. Judas Iscariot) or true motives. The fact would be that they made a choice, had experienced a life changing experience, a new beginning, and yes I do beleive Jesus would.
Jim G
Thanks for all the great comments!
To answer the question of the intent of the poster; it was specifically designed to advertise a conference that was being put on by the group Heavenly Sanctuary. The conference was focusing on the "character of God". So it wasn't just all about the "shock factor" - even though I'm sure that was part of it.
you need to start blogging again, i think i'm having withdrawls!
r u on strike?
not on strike...his laptop is down...love, Dee
Heavenly Sanctuary had a new painting commissioned by Lars Justinen.
www.heavenlysanctuary.com
HeavenlySanctuary.com - PO Box 4 - Redlands, California - 92373 - USA
Thanks David! I just checked out the updated version. Very cool. I'll encourage my readers to go to Heavenly Sanctuary and check it out as well.
Yep! God is still God.
And, Scott, I love those comments.
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