Our Trojan Jesus

Image is important to the majority of us. We want to convey the right image. We choose our clothes and hairstyle to give off the right image about who we are. If I could afford it, I would wear Banana Republic crap all the time so people would see that I'm intellectual, cultured, slightly laid back, and independent. I shop at Old Navy and do my best to replicate such attire to show people who I am. . . . or maybe just who I wish I was.

Movie stars pay millions to convey the right image. They get bored, so they spend millions more to change their image. They buy houses and cars to contribute. No expense spared to show who they are . . . or who they want people to believe they are.

Maybe that's why God says not to make an image of him. For one, it's fake and everyone knows it. Second, it's confining; as though the God of the universe could fit nicely into some pithy saying, or could be summed up by an earthly creation.

I think one of the most universal images is Jesus. We parade around pictures of a fair skinned Caucasian wearing a toga, sporting shoulder length hair and a 3 month old beard (trimmed, ironically). He's always clean, evidently Jesus invented bleach as he's the only one in pictures who manages to keep his robe white. This is also a good sign that he never worked hard as anyone who's attempted to get mud/dirt stains off a white shirt even with bleach could tell us. Basically he skipped the whole carpenter thing and went into management.

And, all the world learns from this is our values, but definitely not those of the man of Nazareth. The world can learn our American/Western values quite well from this image. Appearance is everything, which is why Jesus obviously spent so much time combing his hair, as the pictures of his gracefully flowing locks display. Jesus was very hygienically minded; again he was never dirty. This reveals his consumer work ethic: do as little as possible and get paid for it. Oh, did I mention he's white. That's an obvious value as well.

So . . . here's where I'm going with this, if this is what the world sees when we witness about Jesus; not a practicing Jew from Nazareth, but the plastic epitome of Western values, what are we of the evangelical persuesion convicted we should convert them to?????

I'm pretty convinced that the plastic Jesus is a Trojan horse. We send missionaries around the world to get people to bow down to the plastic Jesus that we've created in our image. When they ask valid questions about our faith we speak louder, trying to drown them out. We attempt to use coercive arguments so that they are trapped in our pseudo-Christian, Western paradigm. We ask them about sin and salvation, which we have pre-defined for them. Remember earlier posts: he who defines the terms, wins the argument. We do all this quite often with honest intentions. But the end result is another heathen bowing down to our plastic Jesus, who is devoid of anything divine.

I've read a lot of books on pluralism recently, and for all it's ills, I will say, at least pluralism is an environment in which the graven image of our plastic Jesus' don't fair well.

I'm reading another book encouraging us toward ecumenical (inter-religious) dialogue. The book is discussing the objections to such dialogue: it requires a "lack of convictions" and an openness that compromises the nature of faith. I think these are objections of lazy people who have found their security hiding behind a plastic Jesus. I think that faith that fears it might be dissuaded to such an extent that it aggressively rejects all discussion that could provide a challenge to it, is no faith at all, but only a form of idolatry. We craft an image of what it means to follow Christ by employing cheap marketing strategies and cheesy images that only reveal how we've lost our connection to Divinity. Anyone who experiences the Divine will automatically understand the concept of true art so lacking in all commerical appeals.

Convert. Con = opposite. Vert = line. A convert is one who makes a 180. Who turns from the direction they are walking and walks a different direction. At this basic level it appears that one could convert from eating fast food or smoking. I find it funny then that we say that one needs convert to Christianity to be saved. They must walk the opposite way on the line toward this faith system . . . one which it appears Jesus himself did not exactly endorse. That's right, we need to go out and turn people around so they walk towards the plastic Jesus.

Or they could walk toward the man himself . . . and what would they do when they got to him? Probably converse with and follow him . . . oh, right, we also call that dialogue.

Jesus did a lot of that. He dialogued with Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles of a wide variety. He didn't tell them to adopt his belief system. He simply talked with them and challenged them. I would point out one story where he speaks to a Gentile woman and compares her to a dog not worthy of his miracles . . . it appears our Savior was human enough to have prejudices, yet in talking with the woman his notions of Jewish superiority were challenged in that she had more faith than any of his religion. . . . hmmm, what could that say to Christians??

If Jesus were to talk to a Buddhist, I wonder what ways he would have been challenged in? and if it's possible for him, what does that mean for me? In talking with a Muslim, I obviously would desire that he know Jesus: if he doesn't know Jesus, then how can he challenge and be challenged by him?

I also find it funny that I have found an awesome way to remain unchallenged by Jesus, it's called Christianity. I hide from Jesus behind the plastic image I've made of him. The truth is that pluralistic dialogue stands a good chance of proving to me that the religion I've held up as the model for all, is actually quite far from the man to whom it refers and originates from.

This is what I've come to see in so much of our evangelism: a way to make people good, secular, Americanized, pseudo-Christians, but not to allow them or myself to be engaged by Jesus. Then I might realize how lifeless this plastic figurine of faith truly is, and be forced to stand in the frightening presence of a man who's got a few questions for me, who might point out to me the horrid direction of a few of the lines i'm walking it. I've also realized how cowardly it is to use our plastic faith to hide from the pertinent questions that other religions would ask us: questions which might also oppose some of the directions I've chosen.

If I truly follow Christ, I will ultimately walk in the midst of people of faiths different than mine. I will see that he does not demand they become like me, but only offers them food for thought on how life could be different. There is no imperialism in Jesus' wake. If the Roman centurion was still a pagan when he walked away, then should I assume it should be different today when I encounter people of other religions? Why not instead try something more modest: conversation. No hiding inside the Trojan horse of what we call Christian faith. Instead the frighteningly vulnerable position of standing in the open with no image to enshroud us, but an openness that hides neither our insecurities nor our strengths.