Bloody Jesus
For five days, I was blessed and entertained by two fabulous women from Canada, Heather and Nancy Jane. My stomach was seriously sore from laughing uncontrollably on several occasions. While they were here, my friend Ken was in the process of moving into his house. This meant that we had to accompany him on several errands, including a stop at a home store. Nancy
Jane thought it would be great to pick up Ken some house warming essentials. As we were also out of our minds most of the time, Nancy Jane threw in some gag gifts. A chintzy, ceramic figurine of a young girl was added, but she amused all of us when she said, "Look! I''ll get him a bloody Jesus!" Her expression and the way she said it made us howl...I probably laughed the loudest. There is no shortage of crucifixes bearing grotesque models of Christ in Bolivia. As we passed by the cashier, she priced the Jesus replica and in complete seriousness told us, "Es muy bonito (He is very beautiful)". The three of us were chewing on our lips, trying not to burst into another fit of hysterical laughter.
As I write this, I am fully aware that some of you are wondering about our warped humour and maybe even doubting the integrity of my faith. That's o.k., God has already used this recent incident to teach me something. This morning I finished reading The Ragamuffin Gospel. Manning wraps up his writings by telling the reader about one his spiritual awakenings. This is what he tells us,
"One night I went to the chapel to pray. The world was asleep, but my heart was awake to the Lord and I stood at the crucifix for a long time. Then in faith, I heard Jesus Christ say, 'For love of you, I left my Father's side and I came to you, who ran from me, who fled from me, who did not want to hear my name. For love of you, I was covered in spit and punched and beaten and fixed to the wood of the cross.'
I figuratively saw blood streaming from every wound and pore in Christ's body. And I heard the cry of His blood, 'This isn't a joke. It is not a laughing matter to me that I have loved you.' The more I looked, the more I realized that no man has ever loved me and no woman could ever love me as He does." (pg.227,228).
I read that earlier today and I could not escape the implications. God showed me how far removed I am from the reality of what He did for love of me. Father, forgive me! The purchased crucifix was only an object and quite often an idol, but it became an instrument to humble me. I am a ragamuffin, albeit redeemed, but with a lot to learn. In good reformed fashion, I prefer the empty cross over the body bearing ones, but today I was distinctly reminded that the bloody Jesus is a beautiful Jesus indeed.
posted by FFG @ Thursday, March 23, 2006
3 comments
3 Comments:
Marcee,
I was so glad to see where this post went, as I was disappointed in the beginning of the story to hear christians laughing at the bloody christ on the crucifix, and laughing at the cashier admiring it as beautiful. Although I could never be a Catholic because I disagree with the most basic tenents of some of their theology (holding the traditions of the church on par with scripture, for instance), I always joke and say I must have been Catholic in another life (a little inter-faith humor there...) because I tend to be more "Catholic" in my spiritual aesthetics, if that makes sense. I always say the Catholics have us Protestants beat when it come to art, and while for certain crucifixes and statues of "saints", etc, have become idols to many, I think if viewed as an expression of faith or a tool to stimulate reflection and devotion to Jesus, crucifixes, and other depictions of Christ on the cross, can be beautiful artifacts of our faith.
I think this is perhaps why I responded to The Passion differently than many of my protestant fans. While I think that the films was not perfect, I did appreciate it as a meditative tool. I was gripped by the illustrations of Jesus abused, beated, and crucified for me. I found Mel Gibson's "cameo" (his hand wa the one that drove the nail into Jim Caveziel's hand) touching because he said that he knew that it was his sin that had put Jesus there, that it was Christ's love for him, and His desire to see his sin forgiven, then held him there.
PS- I love Nancy Jane, she is so much fun and so sweet. I met Heather briefly at our last WOW and look forward to getting to know her better. I am glad that their visit blessed you!
You know, I should edit my posts before I post them... I meant protestant "friends", not "fans". A little fruedian slip, perhaps? Me, narcisistic? No......
I hesitated to write this story and maybe I should have used secret identities for the other characters (and they ARE characters!), but I am distinctly aware of my emotional distance from things like the crucifixion, eternity, and other rather important aspects of my faith. I want to be honest about who I am and the things that God teaches me through my flesh moments.
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