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Here’s an off the wall or maybe on the wall question for you: should churches display pictures of Jesus? It may sound like an odd question, but, historically, it has been huge. Some traditions, like Western Protestantism, have in the past called it idolatry; believing that making an image of God was a violation of the Second Commandment which forbids such a thing. If you make an image of God, you might start worshipping the image rather than God and then you’re violating the First Commandment. Other traditions, such as Eastern Orthodox traditions, think images of Jesus help us to contemplate God and get a sense of God’s personality that will, by the work of the Holy Spirit, rub off on us so that we become more Christ-like. And, there are still others who just say if we’re going to have pictures of Jesus, then at least make him look like a first century Jewish peasant and not some white dude out of King Arthur’s court.
To put it all in perspective, there is a biblical mandate prohibiting the making of images of any kind that represent anything in heaven or on earth not even of God for reasons of idolatry. It seems God doesn’t want us making images of what we think God might look like. That’s just creating God according to our imaginations. If I were to form an opinion on why, I would venture that the prohibition is for the reason that how we picture God places limitations on how we relate to God and to one another. Displaying pictures of Jesus in which he looks like a white dude from the Middle Ages tends to make people of colour feel distanced from Jesus and re-enforces underlying notions of white privilege. A similar thing happens when we put up a picture of God as some bearded old man sitting on a throne ruling everything and waiting to judge the quick and the dead for their sins. God is more than just a creator and judge who is remote from us. That image needs to be counterbalanced with images of the laughing Jesus or of Jesus blessing children; something that looks like love. How we image or picture God has consequences for how we live the faith.
While we’re on the topic of images of God, we also create images of God with the language we use to describe God, particularly how we name God. The pronouns we use to describe God have their effect as well. Calling God “him” or “he” makes us think of God as male and it feeds this thing called patriarchy; male domination of things. But if we go the other way and call God “her” or “she, historically such imaginations of God have started to resemble a nature or fertility goddess. If you think patriarchy is bad, do a survey of ancient religions that involved the worship of female deities. You will find these groups oddly tended to become very reliant on the sexual degradation and exploitation of women and/or the emasculation (sometimes literally) of men. We can’t call God “it” either. God’s a person, not a thing. So also, if we do away with pronouns all together and simply refer to God according to one of God’s actions, like Creator or Deliverer, God becomes impersonal, simply the force behind certain activities.
When it comes to what pronouns we should use to address God, one of the best solutions I’ve heard comes from the author Brian McLaren. In his book Do I Stay Christian?, he says a good place to start is to always address and refer to God as “You”. That way God is always “other” and always a person, a person other than me. But he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to include thoughts on God being Trinity, that God is the loving communion, the loving relationship of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That being the case, the one we call “You” should actually be addressed and referred to as “We”. That God is not a He nor a She nor an It but rather a You who is We is Christianity’s most profound thing to say when talking about God. Moreover, if God is We, a We whose essence is unconditional, mutual, self-giving Love (If God is in God’s self the Supreme relationship of Love), then we whom “We” made in “We’s” own image must accept and pay careful attention to the fact that living together according to unconditional, mutual, self-giving Love is the purpose of our existence. We, you and I, are meant for building one another up in love not for being all Me/I can be. I find me when you and I find “We” (God) together. I hope you’re getting all this.
So, if you want an image of what God looks like, well it’s complicated. But, there is somewhere we can look for an image. Jesus tells Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” What Jesus means by “see” there is key. He’s not talking about the way God looks in appearance. He’s talking about catching a glimpse of God as a person. He and the Father are one. The Father dwells in him and he is in the Father. If we get to know Jesus, we are getting to know the Father. If we know Jesus, we have seen the Father. So with Jesus and his relationship to the One he called Father we’re getting a picture the God whom we can call “We”.
So, if we were taking a look at Jesus and we can do so by taking a quick walk through John’s Gospel, here’s what we would “see” with respect to Jesus from which we can catch a glimpse of God. Jesus welcomed strangers to come and see where he lived and became friends with them. Jesus could see deeply into people to know their deepest desires. Jesus cared enough about a couple’s wedding that when the wine gave out, he miraculously provided some very good wine. Jesus had no tolerance for big, business religion that took advantage of people. Jesus answered questions about himself and had nothing to hide. He was transparent at face value. Jesus welcomed and conversed with people that others would think to be morally questionable. He held them accountable but did not reject them. Jesus healed people again and again. Jesus cared that people had enough to eat and fed them abundantly. Jesus practiced the rituals of his faith. Jesus confronted the hypocrisy of religious people who were judgemental and exclusive. People who use religion as a means to personal power hated him. He wept for a dead friend and then raised him. There was something special about him that those who followed him could hear God in his voice. He humbled himself and washed his disciples’ dirty feet. He was betrayed and denied by his closest friends but still he comforted them in their shame. He comforted them in their grief. When his life was at stake, he didn’t defend himself or assert himself, but rather gave of himself to the point of death. God raised him. He returned to his friends to restore the friendship, gave them his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and a profound sense of peace and of purpose. Such is love.
Jesus told Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus and the Father are one and we have to bring the Holy Spirit into that relationship as well. God is “We”. Looking at Jesus we see, we come to know, God who is “We.” (and I’m going to use that pronoun for the next little bit to refer to God.) “We” cannot be captured in a painting on a wall. If Jesus gives us a glimpse of “We”, then “We” looks like, “We” is, indiscriminate hospitality, sacrificial generosity, unconditional love, a humble “for-us” friend who comforts and heals and restores, and who forgives. “We” is not wishy washy with respect to our conduct, but holds us accountable for when we do things that hurt others and break trust with others. Nothing is impossible for “We”, even raising the dead. “We” is all about forming and sustaining relationships that look like “We”. When those relationships get strained and broken and put asunder, “We” comes to heal, to reconcile, to restore, and to resurrect the relationship. “We” comes and speaks and in that voice we each hear our own name. “We” draws and includes individual people whom I will call “me and me and me and me” into the fellowship of “We” with the gift of the life-giving presence of “We”, the Holy Spirit, so that “me and me and me and me and me” indwelt with “We” are “Us”. In “Us”, in our fellowship with each other, this is where the God who is “We” abides and “We” can be seen when “Us” finds itself surprisingly and instinctually being the way Jesus is and doing the things Jesus did.
To close, Church isn’t about be trying to find a more fulfilling way of being me. Church is “Us” living according to “We”. That’s pretty simple, isn’t it? Amen.
