Who is Jesus? Most graffiti responses miss the point
It seems the only time people have to stop and think nowadays is when they’re preoccupied by something that requires them to stop running around, sit and rest for a few seconds. And as I, a Michigan student, spent this first week of classes buying and cracking open scholarly books and highlighting important essays written by important people about important things, it occurred to me that the most valuable written work I’d encountered in a while was scribbled on the back of a bathroom door in Mason Hall.
Where do you do your most profound thinking?
The sentence read: “Jesus is ______.” It required someone else to fill in the blank, a sort of graffiti experiment, presumably written to test the waters and ultimately gather feedback. Interactive vandalism! It’s like Twitter for criminals.
Anyway, the reason I felt compelled to write about this is because of some of that very feedback that was intended by the original bathroom scribe. I wondered at first whether the incomplete sentence was written by a Christian and after much deliberation I determined that it probably was not, but more on how I came to that conclusion later. The scribbled responses spoke to me more than almost anything I’ve ever read.
The first missing word “submission” of sorts made the sentence read: “Jesus is awesome!” But, the next writer cleverly crossed out the word “awesome” and penned in “dumb” instead. Next up someone drew an arrow from the unfinished sentence to the word “love,” which they’d written in large block letters.
As I perused these first few potential endings to The Sentence, I wondered at what words this display would inspire had it been written on the wall of a bathroom in a church. Or in a stall at a bar. Or if the sentence had been posed as a question to a crowd at a rock concert. Or a country concert. What if these markings had been discovered in a prestigious elementary school? Would someone get in trouble for it? There certainly are places in the world, and even in America, where it feels like, above anything else, Jesus is illegal.
The string of answers got more heated and impassioned the more I read. Someone wrote “a dirty hippie” upon undertaking the task of describing Jesus. Another wrote that Jesus is a “homophobe,” while, paradoxically, another finished the sentence so that it read; “Jesus is gay.”
This just about sums up how confusing and inaccurately Jesus and Christianity are conceived of in our modern American minds. People have justified basically every human action with the name of Jesus, like deciding to hatefully burn Korans (a plan that's been cancelled, but still) on Sept. 11 as a way of “celebrating” the nine-year anniversary of the worst national tragedy since Pearl Harbor. But people also become red in the face towards what they think is Christianity when all they really hate is the Diag preacher standing on a soapbox and yelling—inaccurately— that we’re all going to hell. Oddly, critics of Christianity have a lot in common with real Christians in this area.
The last four words that anonymous Michigan students (maybe even faculty) said Jesus is were pro-choice, Jewish, black and, finally, Republican. I don’t know about you, but I’m actually less inclined to believe in the existence of a pro-choice, Jewish, black Republican than I am convinced that Jesus was the only son of the living God.
As a Christian, and somewhat of a writer, I racked my brain for the perfect thing to write to end the string of comments and “win” this faceless, creative contest. The thing is, graffiti isn’t really my style. When I really feel like expressing myself (while simultaneously producing crap), I apply for contributor positions at respected local news outlets.
I did, however, determine that the person who wrote the original “Jesus is _____” sentence beginning was probably not a Christian. Or, if they were, they were missing a large point of the Christian faith by including a blank space after the word “is.” All that Christian doctrine guarantees about Jesus, and all that any Christian is essentially “required,” to use an awkwardly academic word, to say about Jesus is simply the original two words: “Jesus is.” Once you understand that “is” is the only truth and qualifier that you need to fully experience Jesus, you can begin to accurately describe and classify who it is you are.
Being an imperfect Christian and an ever-prideful (sinful) man of words, I couldn’t resist adding a word that by now has been crossed out by a fellow Michigan student attempting to tear open the cosmos with wisdom while relieving himself in Mason Hall. After all the other words fade away in graffiti oblivion, I hope mine hangs on for a little bit longer, for it’s the only word I could think of that could overcome all of the false descriptions and labels attached to Jesus’ identity. I didn’t try to describe Jesus at all, actually. I didn’t add anything humorous or spiteful to His title. I didn’t try to politicize Him, turn Him into an environmentalist, or someone we might recognize walking around once returning to the world from the bathroom. All I wrote is that He is coming.
Ben Verdi is a man with a Bible and laptop and a nasty curveball. He can be reached at jetboiz@aol.com.
Comments
robyn
Sun, Sep 12, 2010 : 12:38 a.m.
You are absolutely right about being open about your flaws, it is a freedom that can't be compared to any other. It also makes you more aware how judgemental we humans can be about others. Had to laugh about the joke thing, I have gotten that too - the joke comes out and suddenly they realize I am in the room with my huge delicate bubble of Christianity that can be burst at the mere thought of offensiveness and the room becomes a church... Not one of those happy singing and clapping churches either. One of those TV or movie churches that no matter how many pretty stained glass windows it has - the sun never brightens the place, it's dark and serious and completely without any joy inside. And drinking - where do people get that God doesn't allow people to have a drink and sing and dance and be joyous? Jesus turned water into wine to keep the wedding party going! If He wanted people to NOT have a glass of wine and sit around being all serious and boring - he'd have turned the wine into water instead. My biggest worry is that people will become so hardened toward the concept of God that they will never have the ability to just be open and fully accept Him. Part of the grace we have with God is not in 'turning' people to Him - it is in not turning people away from Him. You can't lead someone to think or feel the way you want them to think or feel, but you can help them to become more open to thinking about things differently. That gives them the opportunity to learn and make a choice about their own beliefs. For me the hardest part of that is not getting angry with people who are just nasty about the very idea of God. But then again - even Jesus had to deal with people who believed in God but denied Him...
Benjamin Verdi
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 11:36 p.m.
I think your mirror/reflection metaphor for religious people works on a lot of levels. My housemates sometimes apologize to me for making dirty jokes while I'm in the room, and I'm like, "Dude, how many times have you heard me make basically the same comment?" People overreact to the identities of the people around them because they take pride in being "undefined." So it feels like every Christian is either Mother Theresa, or the Koran burning guy. There's no middle ground. The point about self-evaluation hits home for me too: I NEVER did this (at any serious level) before I became a Christian. What I really dream of is a way for people to BOAST in their weaknesses, that's when I think you fully "get it" in terms of understanding who God is and how you should live your life. We hide so much of our flaws on a day-to-day basis that all we do is let them grow larger in the dark. But if you bring them into the light and express even a little bit of openness about the ways you fall short, well, you can seriously fly. Thus, Heaven is not so much our reward for faithfulness and repentance as it is a logical and almost mathematical result of true faith. To me at least, it logically follows that once you open the door to your weaknesses and your inadequacies God is allowed in to work on them. He, more often than not, ends up turning these things into strengths of yours, and provides you a small taste of what it would be like to be fully transparent and receptive of His forgiveness and grace. For everything. Eventually this will happen though: the world will come to realize how broken it is, and we'll all go running back to God. At least I hope it will. As long as I have breathe in my body I'll strive to make God more visible for the people in my life. I know I'll fail them at times, God's word actually guarantees that I'll fail, but if it means being considered bohemian in the eyes of the world, (the same world that is so far from God that it can't differentiate between cold judgment and eternal love), to show the grace of God to just one person, I'll die happy.
robyn
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 11:03 p.m.
I understand completely... Which is why it is sometimes so difficult to fathom why people would hold those beliefs against others. The fact that our relationship with God plays a key role in how we try to live our lives and how we treat others - which is hopefully with more compassion and sincerity, is usually a positive for those around us. However, try to explain that to some people and it's like you have an epic case of the Bible Thumping Cooties! I've often wondered if it was because people think you're somehow judging them. People have such a hard time being honest with themselves, too often finding the flimsiest of reasons to justify what they know is wrong, it's far easier to live with those justifications if you are never forced to self-evaluate. A belief in God requires it. Maybe those of us who believe are seen as the mirrors of their flaws and they don't like the reflection. What they don't understand is that we really don't judge them - they are not a reflection of us and we are not a reflection of them - each of us deals with our own flaws.
Benjamin Verdi
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 10:25 p.m.
Ideally we would all feel comfortable talking about what we believe in. Maybe I'm just too young and hopeful, but I think a world where that is possible could still exist, someday. Also, I like to think about things like that anonymity you mentioned as partially good, but partially detrimental to my spiritual growth. On the one hand, I'd like to avoid being ostracized by my friends (and maybe looked down upon by my professors) when the issue of my religion is brought up, but, then again, if Christianity were actually a "crime," I'd always want there to be enough evidence in my daily life to convict me of it, you know?
robyn
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 9:10 p.m.
While I didn't find your article 'hilarious' - I did enjoy the humorous irony. I also found that - in light of the past few days with religion and spiritual belief as a whole being such a major topic of conversation, I am also curious and a bit weirded out by people's perceptions about religion. Especially the very strong views about Christianity. Something I've noticed yet can't quite wrap my brain around. It seems that one cannot go to a 'religious' forum or any public forum and discuss Christianity without the atheists and anti-religion people jumping all over any post and becoming angry. I have always wondered why people who make the choice NOT to believe feel the need to be so rotten to those that do believe. My beliefs have no real impact upon anyone in a negative way, it is probably more of the opposite - I'm probably a bit nicer and less critical of others because of that board on my eye! I can walk though a mall, through a stadium of people, through any crowd and they will never know I am a Christian... They will treat me like any other person, no hate or animosity, no questioning my belief in a 'fairy tale' or demanding answers from me to support my 'ignorant' beliefs... YET - if I say I believe in God and that Jesus is my savior - I am the most vile and intellectually retarded human on the face of the planet - responsible for all that is evil and bad in this world. And the worst part about all of it is that 99% of the people who make those kinds of accusations have NEVER actually picked up a Bible and READ it... Go figure? I'd like to think you'll continue writing about your experiences - especially in regard to your own spirituality and how it has an effect upon your life as a young adult. I have found that - as an OLD adult it can still have an impact upon friendships.
W. Vida
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 8:52 p.m.
I really liked this post. Funny and interesting.