A few weeks ago I went to a Passion Play with a group of friends.
I feel I must start this blog by saying this is a really cool Passion Play. The set is a combination of a natural amphitheatre and a permanent stage that makes you feel like you're going back in time. Most of the actors in the huge cast are volunteer and you can totally feel the authentic love of the story through the sacrifice of the actors and creators. I was even in it myself one year, and recognized some of the faces on and off the stage.
It's an awesome play... but.
While watching the production I felt a twinge of sadness in the very classical and well done depiction of Jesus' life and death. The play was through the perspective of John, and out of the book of John, with the actor playing Jesus reciting scripture almost word for word, which was good, but something was still off for me, and I called it 'the untouchable Jesus syndrome.'
The Canadian Badlands Passion Play is not the only time I have seen Untouchable Jesus, it is actually how He is depicted in almost every movie, every play, every paining, a lot of songs and most of popular Christianity. Somehow we have developed this sense that Jesus was dignified, that Holiness means a sort of distance or detachment from human emotion, that Jesus as a man on earth would not have run anywhere, or that He was always immaculately clean. As a very cool metaphor in the play, Jesus wears a blue robe and as his influence spreads to the people around they soon end up with flashes of blue as well. Even that, though it created a great visual, also alienated Jesus from the rest of the crowd, put a distance between He and them. He was the sky, a man of the heavens which cannot be reached. A few years ago I would not even have noticed this, I would have said how well done the production was, how well the integrity of scripture was maintained, but in the last few years my faith has been tested, and my depiction of Untouchable and Overly Dignified Jesus has been challenged, to my great relief.
It started with the Matthew video, my family's favourite of the films depicting Jesus life, for the simple fact that Jesus is not only very full of emotion, including happiness (shock!) but also because He is so very touchable, I thought it was a cool depiction of Jesus, something slightly radical, but didn't think on it much more. Shane Claiborne came next, in his book "The Irresistible Revolution" Shane comments on what Jesus would act like if he happened upon an American Mega Church, Shane speculates that Jesus may actually turn over cash registers at book stores and coffee shops and play with kids in foyer fountains. It is a humorous aside in the book but for me it was one of the most important things I got out of it.
How would Jesus act if He were to visit our churches? The next question was one that literally changed my life: How would I act if I came face to face with Him? The immediate response in my spirit was of me racing towards Him, like so many sinners had done before, and hugging Him with all my strength, not letting go for the world. That was how I so desperately wanted Jesus to be in my life, huggable, touchable, forgiving. Why did that image take me so off guard? Why did it feel slightly sacrilegious to think such a thing of Jesus? It took me a little while to realize that not only was this how I wanted to act around Jesus, but that it was also possibly how He wanted to treat me. The extravagant love of God is so obvious in the Bible, even if only in the fact that He died so He could be with us.
I think the biggest thing that changed my perspective of the Untouchable Jesus is "The Beautiful Outlaw" a book by John Eldredge, in which he adds a little bit of perspective to Jesus' life, a little emotion and imagination, looking at Jesus as a man in a complex world fully charged with emotion. In the book he speaks of the religious spirit, which causes the Untouchable Jesus syndrome. It is not Jesus who wishes to create a separation between Himself and man, it is not Jesus who was accused of being hypocritical and no fun (He was actually accused of being a glutton and a drunkard). Jesus was not religious, He does have a few things to say about religious spirits, and if you notice - it is the religious whom He confronted most often, and the religious who killed Him. And now, for the sake of piety and religion, we place Jesus on a pedestal away from us, it is so ingrained into our culture that we don't even bat an eye when Jesus is a solemn and ethereal figure (in the worst cases), or when He is simply not hugged, not touched, not dirty, not hungry, not tired, not emotive. Our God of Love is often depicted as a God of Distant Affection, and we wonder why the world does not take notice like it did in the early church.
So, how do we change that? How do we challenge the religious spirit and embrace Jesus for who He really was? I think the most important thing is to seek to know Jesus for who He truly is, look at nature, the world He created reveals His Glory. Read the Bible with a different lens, look for Jesus' humanity. Stop fearing the judgement of a God full of scandalous grace (and stop dishing out your own judgement), and seek Him from that bloody and embarrassing place that you're in right now and most ashamed of. I guarantee that if you go to Him he will embrace you with open arms. Repent of the religious spirit, and ask God to reveal His true nature.
He became a man, indistinguishable from any other man in appearance, He laughed and He cried, He got sweaty and tired, He was hungry. He was also humble, and a fun guy to be around. He was the kind of man that had broken people running to Him, washing His feet with tears, how do you think that was received? I imagine that woman was wrapped in the arms of her Creator. He constantly broke down the dignified barriers others put around Him, and He continues to do so today.
He was touchable.
He was huggable.
God Himself: which is just part of His crazy, scandalous and wonderful grace.
