Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Jesus

With as little prejudice one way or another, take a look at this picture for me.

Jesus
I'm guessing most people would know who this is, even if the title of this blog post was not his name. I'm going to go on the assumption that you know this is a drawing of Jesus. That's our jumping off point for what I'll be saying the rest of the blog entry.

This is Jesus.

This is an image that I have seen pretty much my entire life. This particular image, in this particular frame, hanging on various walls. I had this picture as far back as the age of 3. Somewhere along the way, it got lost. But my brother gave me another one about a decade ago. This one. I have it hanging on my bedroom wall, next to my hand-painted owl (Fred) and a chalky, somewhat faded, sepia-toned photograph of my great-great aunt, Frankie. Here's a picture of them. 

Fred and Frankie
Anyway.

This is my story of that particular image of Jesus. But first, a little background.

When I was born, my parents were living in Portland, Oregon. My dad was in seminary (think "preacher college," if you are wondering what exactly that means). Shortly thereafter, my dad got a job at his first church, up in Westport, Washington. A few years later, he got his second church job in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. A few more years later, and he got a job working at a nursing home in New Brighton, Minnesota, as a chaplain. Needless to say, I grew up hearing all about Jesus. Loving Jesus. Talking to Jesus. Wanting to make Jesus happy. Assuming Jesus loved me back. Believing it. (There have been many bumps and detours and rants along the way, but that's another story.)

My point is, I liked Jesus, and I believed he liked me, too.

I am 41 years old. That picture of Jesus (the one up there at the top of the page) has been in storage for the past few years, and when I brought it out and hung it up on the wall in our new apartment just this August, I realized something that I had not realized before.

You see, as familiar as this image is to me...

My entire life...

I looked at that image, and (putting words in Jesus's mouth for a moment) thought he was saying, "Oh, Dana. Really? *sigh* I cannot believe you did [fill in the blank] again!" That's right, I thought Jesus was holding his head in his hands and sighing in frustration.

Look at it again:
*SMH*
So...

In August (four months ago), I looked at this picture, and had myself a good ol' fashioned light bulb moment.

I realized Jesus was being depicted in this drawing as praying.

*DING*

What the what?! PRAYING?! 

You mean he's not disappointed in me?
You mean he's not frustrated with me?
You mean he's not judging me?
You mean he's not wishing I was a different person?
You mean he's not regretting loving me?
You mean... he's praying?

Seriously.

Maybe... Oh my goodness, could it be?

MAYBE I'm not the only one who has misinterpreted what I've been seeing in front of me my whole life.

MAYBE I've been taking my experiences with the people around me, with my own self-talk, with things I've read and heard and seen... and not seeing it the right way.

I'm not saying I'm right.
I'm not saying I'm wrong.

It just struck me that, even though I grew up actually believing that this guy Jesus loved me, I still thought this picture was him shaking his head at me.

The bigger picture here is, anything and everything can be misinterpreted. It can all be seen from a different perspective. Maybe it's not Jesus. Maybe it's heavy metal music. Maybe it's science fiction novels. Maybe it's Michael Jackson. Maybe it's Valentine's Day. 

Whatever you name, I guarantee you that your perspective on it is not the only one.

I'm super glad that light bulb went on for me. I hope it happens again. I like light bulbs.



4 comments:

  1. I love to hear your perspective. keep writing. forever. I need to keep consuming it.

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  2. I adored your light bulb moment - and honestly, I KNEW he was praying from everything I was taught, but I agree that he LOOKS more exasperated with all of us and now I think, seeing the current world as it is, the irony is that he is BOTH exasperated and praying for us!!

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  3. Very interesting.... I thought as soon as I saw it that it was him pleading with his father not to have to go through with his task. I like your interpretation much better.

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