Mother Mary Giving Birth to the Babe Jesus

Mother Mary giving birth to the babe Jesus, accompanied only by Joseph. No shining star. No shepherds. No animals. No stable. No manger. No King Herod. No three wise men. Almost everything is blue, as though symbolizing sadness and melancholy on the part of the modern world that needs no divine savior. Merry Christmas!

The Laughing Jesus

The New Testament contains no report altogether about Jesus laughing or smiling during his ministry in the Jewish homeland Palestine of the first century C.E. This results in the boring Christian Scriptural depiction of Jesus as too serious a man having no time to laugh and smile.

People say that a very serious man usually will have a short lifespan. Factually, Jesus died when he was still young. His enemies hated him because he was too serious in his intention to establish the sapiential political kingdom of God in the Jewish land being occupied by the Romans.

On the picture above, the Balinese artist I Gede Sukana Kariana, of Den Pasar, Bali, Indonesia, depicts Jesus as widely smiling with children surrounding him. Sukana Kariana writes, “In the Bible there is no explicit mention about Jesus smiling. This is a mystery for me so I must find out by more carefully searching in the Bible. Laughing is a natural expression of human beings, to express their joy from the bottom of their heart. Jesus as a human being must also have emotions like other humans. He lived his life as a normal human being. Although there is no explicit record in the Bible about how Jesus smiled and laughed, but when He met many children, I am convinced that Jesus smiled and made a joke with the children.”

On the picture above, Jesus is laughing and simultaneously winking his right eye with his right hand holding a book of Charles Darwin entitled On the Origin of Species 2 and his left thumb being pointed upward. Clearly, through his body language, Jesus is suggesting you to read the book and stating that Darwinian biological evolution should seriously and happily be accepted by Christians.

Fortunately, Christians still have an extracanonical gospel named the Gospel of Judas in which Jesus is more than once depicted as laughing while being together with his disciples. This is the good news; but the bad news is that here, in this apocryphal gospel, Jesus’ laughter is depicted as being cynical.

In Christian Christological thinking Jesus is viewed almost entirely as the suffering Messiah who died ignominiously on the cross allegedly in order to save humanity from God’s punishment passed due to their own sins.

A death on the cross and sinful humanity that must be punished are a ‘dark theological language’ which is counter-productive indeed to any effort to build a happy and healthy society. To make it functional, Christian soteriology of the cross should in the first place make people view themselves to be utterly powerless in developing their own moral virtues; we say, it demoralizes people. In reality, every human being has the cognitive capacities to live a life morally and greatly.  

Christians, therefore, are in serious need of a religious figure like the Budai, the Laughing Buddha (Chinese: 笑佛), also popularly known in English speaking countries as the Fat Buddha. 

Believed as one incarnation of the eschatological Maitreya Buddha, Budai is often depicted as having the appearance of an amply proportioned bald man wearing a robe and wearing or otherwise carrying prayer beads. He carries his few possessions in a cloth sack, being poor but content. Budai in folklore is admired for his happiness, cheerfulness, laughter, plenitude, and wisdom of contentment.

One belief popular in folklore maintains that rubbing Budai’s belly brings wealth, good luck, and prosperity. Buddhists are very lucky to have Budai, the laughing holy man who can make them laugh and delighted. 

Despite the fact that Jesus possibly never laughed in his lifetime, you Christians should laugh cheerfully in order to make Christianity a peaceful rather than a frightening religion due to its dark theological language. I do believe that in His ministry to share God's compassion dan mercy with many people, Jesus of Nazareth must have been smiling and laughing. 

Jesus Dancing together with His Disciples

On the picture above, Jesus is dancing together with Mary and Martha and other women, painted by a Balinese painter I Nyoman Darsane who lives in Den Pasar. According to Darsane, the white divine light is gloriously radiating from Jesus precisely at the moment Jesus is dancing, making a movement with his body. Jesus’ body is moving powerfully and wonderfully in his dance, spreading his divine energy, power and light to the world around him which is dominated by darkness, as well as to his female friends. In the beginning was the divine movement!


Not only Darsane, a number of artists around the world do also imagine Jesus dancing, making a gorgeous movement with his body. The second picture above has been created by the American painter Mark Dukes, depicting Jesus wearing a golden white robe as dancing, with his left foot being lifted up and his right hand holding a long iron stick whose tip forms a cross, and a halo encircling his head. On the picture, the whole body of Jesus is encircled by a mandorla, something like a halo.


The third picture portrays the resurrected Jesus as bopping, with his right hand uplifted and his left hand holding a stick which has a cross-shaped head. His two insteps still marked by the wounds are treading on a globe, and a colorful long shawl coiling around his hip and buttocks, naked body and his two hands. Apparently he is celebrating his victory over death by dancing and waving his stole.


On the fourth painting above, created by Lindena Robb, Sydney, Australia, a naked-to-the-waist Jesus is joyfully and happily dancing, and a number of smiling women behold him possibly with sexual desire in their hearts. The blue sky adds a feeling of excitement upon all those present.

Is the dancing Jesus not a Christian Jesus? Oh course not! That Jesus is dancing, is a legitimate Christian imagination. There is a second-century holy Christian document, titled The Acts of John, that relates Jesus dancing together with his disciples. This is a Christian roman which has been influenced by the theology of the Johannine community. This Christian apocryphal document contains largely a Valentinian Gnostic theology which is elaborated most obviously in chapters 94-102.

In chapters 94-96 of this document we read that at the Last Supper before the crucifixion Jesus says to his disciples, “Before they hand me over to them, let us sing a hymn to the Father, and then we together should face what will happen before us.” Jesus then asks his disciples to stand up in a circle and hold each other’s hands, himself standing at the center of the circle. Soon Jesus and his disciples dance powerfully. When Jesus has sung one part of the hymn, his disciples while dancing respond with the word “Amen!” Their dance and the hymn they sing together are called the Round Dance of the Cross. The hymn that Jesus sings and the antiphonal response of his disciples, all the way down the line, are the following.

Glory to you, Father.
Amen.
Glory to you, Word.
Glory to you, Grace.
Amen.

Glory to you, Spirit.
Glory to you, Holy One.
Glory to your glory.
Amen.

We praise you, Father.
We thank you, Light, in whom no darkness lives.
Amen.

I declare why we offer thanks:
I will be saved and I will save.
Amen.

I will be released and I will release.
Amen.
I will be wounded and I will wound.
Amen.
I will be born and I will bear.
Amen.
I will eat and I will be eaten.
Amen.
I will hear and I will be heard.
Amen.
I will be in mind, I, pure mind.
Amen.
I will be washed and I will wash.
Amen.

Grace dances.
I will play the flute.
Dance, everyone.
Amen.
I will weep.
Lament, everyone.
Amen.
A realm of eight sings with us.
Amen.
The twelfth number dances above.
Amen.
The whole universe joins in dancing.
Amen.
If you do not dance
you do not know what is.
Amen.
I will run away and I will remain.
Amen.
I will adorn and I will be adorned.
Amen.
I will be united and I will unite.
Amen.
I am homeless and I have homes.
Amen.
I have no place and I have places.
Amen.
I have no temple and I have temples.
Amen.
I am a lamp to you who see me.
Amen.
I am a mirror to you who recognize me.
Amen.
I am a door to you who knock on me.
Amen.
I am a way to you, passerby.
Amen.

If you follow my dance,
see yourself in me when I speak.
If you have seen what I do,
keep quiet about my mysteries.
You who dance, consider what I do.
Yours is the human passion I am to suffer.
You could never understand what you suffer
unless I the word was sent to you by the Father.

You who have seen
what I do have seen me suffering,
and when you saw it,
you did not stand still but were utterly moved.

You were moved to wisdom,
and you have my help.
Rest in me.

Who I am you will know when I go.
What I am seen to be now I am not.
What I am you will see when you come.

If you knew how to suffer
you would be able not to suffer.
Learn how to suffer
and you will be able not to suffer.

What you do not know I shall teach you.
I am your God, not the traitor’s.
I wish holy souls to be in harmony with me.
Know the word of wisdom.

Say again with me,
Glory to you, Father.
Glory to you, Word.
Glory to you, Spirit.
Amen.

If you wish to know what I was,
I ridiculed everything with the word,
and I was not ridiculed at all.

I jumped for joy.
Understand everything,
and when you have understood, declare,
Glory to you, Father.
Amen.

Unfortunately, this apocryphal Acts of John was declared in the fifth century by pope Great Leo (in office from September 24, 440 through November 10, 461) as a misleading document. The pope stated officially that this document “contains a heated bed which makes people go astray, and therefore should not only be prohibited but also be got rid of altogether and be burnt by fire.”

However, the Acts of John testifies to the fact that Christianity has an exceptional text in which Jesus and his disciples are depicted as dancing and singing. Their dance and the responsorial hymn they sang unite them with the cosmos, unite Jesus and his disciples so that he is in them and they in him. And through their mystical union established by the great and powerful (and perhaps ecstatic) dance, Jesus’ disciples are sanctified and receive the strength and power they need to bear their own suffering and to know the way to conquer their anguish and plight.

Actually, in many traditional religions all over the world, past and present, the holy figures of these religions, not only Jesus, are portrayed as employing dances as the media to radiate and disseminate the divine power, wave and energy to believers and the whole world alike; and their dances symbolize the energetic divine movement which becomes the foundation of all creation. A very old religion of the world, Hinduism, which is far older than Christianity, knows such intellectual tradition and artistic expressions.

Shiva nataraj, the dancing king

The fifth and sixth images above portray the Hindu God Shiva as dancing in the special position in which he is known as the Nataraj, meaning the Dancing King. This dancing pose together with all arty accessories which he holds and exists together with him is replete with symbolic cosmic meanings. In short, the Nataraj dance symbolizes the cycle of the cosmic creation and annihilation as well as the rhythmic cycle of birth, death and rebirth as human and non-human phenomenal daily experiences which flow out from the God Shiva. Clearly, the Nataraj dance is an artistic allegory which refers to the five principles of the eternal cosmic energy in the whole universe which operates in all matter, from sub-atomic particles to the limitless and huge cosmos: creation, destruction, preservation, salvation and illusion.

 Shiva and Parvati dancing together erotically

The seventh picture above depicts the God Shiva as dancing together with the Hindu Goddess Parvati, the second wife of the former. Parvati is the highest Mother Goddess in Hindu religion from whom all Hindu goddesses were born and fill the universe. In an intimate and harmonious erotic and mystical dance, Shiva and Parvati are united to make the whole universe balanced and alive.

Perhaps Christians are tempted to imagine Jesus Christ as dancing with his female partner in the same manner as Shiva and Parvati’s dancing. Who is the woman with whom Jesus can dance intimately and harmoniously to radiate and to flow his creative energy for his church and the world? Is it possible that the dancing partner of Jesus is Mary Magdalene, the woman he loves very much? The answer is of course dependent on your creative and artistic imagination. Imagination is virtue; the sky is the limit. So, let us imagine, and celebrate the faith in Jesus through dance. Dance and follow and catch and absorb the powerful energy of the dancing man Jesus!

by Ioanes Rakhmat

Jesus Saving A Prostitute

The following three pictures below are the modern artistic expressions of the biblical passage of John 8:1-11. Read this passage carefully. It is told that early in the morning when Jesus was teaching the people in a certain area of the Temple in Jerusalem, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. And making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?” When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

In view of the fact that for all the Jewish people in the time of Jesus the law of Moses should have been enforced without compromise, we cannot ascertain whether this incident is historical. The gospel common theme that Jesus is superior to the law of Moses (Mark 2:27-28) appears in this passage.

Look at the first picture above. Two cops are going to search through and capture a prostitute wandering about in a modern city (perhaps New York) at night. I do not know why these two cops want to investigate the woman; perhaps she is suspected of bringing with herself narcotic. Suddenly Jesus appears with glorious radiance enveloping him, standing in the middle to role as a mediator between the woman and the cops. These two cops are shocked by the sudden appearance of Jesus. But the night remains still. In your imagination, what are the sayings Jesus utters at this critical moment?

Next look to the second picture above. Twelve gentlemen are urging Jesus to do something with the prostitute who is standing beside Jesus, begging for his defense, protection and love. This incident happens in a certain area of the Temple. Why twelve men? Does the number 12 symbolize the twelve disciples of Jesus themselves, so they and Jesus are involved in a quarrel about a whore: is she to be condemned, or to be forgiven and protected? According to you, do men have authority over the very body of women?

Finally, look at the third picture above. Six people are quarreling over the fate of a pretty woman who has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. Aha, one of these six people is a Superman! Jesus, wearing a green T-shirt and a blue jean, is trying to save the woman by stretching his two hands to her. This woman is gazing at Jesus, expecting his love, defense and protection.

After viewing these three pictures, with the Johannine passage above being in the background, do you opine that a male should take the role of the protector of a female? Or, is it closer to the truth that a woman should and could protect and defend herself instead of begging the love and strength of a man?

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

The impressive picture above is created by Peter Grahame in 2005, and he entitled it Inner Flame. According to Grahame, within every body is a sacred heart. One may rightly think that Grahame was inspired by the Sacred Heart of Jesus when he created this picture, and the long-haired, nude man with a flame piercing externally from within his heart on this picture can of course be deemed as Jesus Christ. The tip of the flame is sharp as though it was the tip of a sword appearing painfully from within the man's chest. The suffering of Jesus is thus depicted as well on this image. I am convinced for you the picture above speaks more than I could tell at this moment.


Everybody could unavoidably see that a pair of flame on the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the second picture above is in par with the flame on the first picture. Catholics believe that in the Sacred Heart of Jesus sinners shall find the source of infinite ocean of mercy. But the flame radiating from the Sacred Heart of Jesus can also be symbolically viewed as the divine emanation directed to humanity so as to make it the house of divinity. The sacred and divine light is housed within everybody’s mind and heart. You, not only Jesus, are Christ as well, that is, as you are filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesian 3:19).

Mary Magdalene: Jesus' Temptress?

Below is the image of the life-sized nude limewood statue of Mary Magdalene which was sculpted about 1510 by Gregor Erhart (c. 1470-1540), depicting her as a mystic ascetic clothed only by her long hair. This impressive statue can be found now at the Louvre museum in Paris, first appeared publicly on the German art market in the 19th century and was purchased by the Louvre in 1902.  

According to a legend, Mary Magdalene (wrongly labeled as a repentant prostitute by Pope Gregory the Great in 591) lived a secluded life in the cave of Sainte-Baume, clothed only by her long and luxuriant hair. Every day she was raised up in the sky by angels to hear the heavenly chorus. Her languid pose and meditative expression are meant to convey her mystic ecstasy, while her marvelous beauty and glossy golden locks are intended to evoke her holy radiance. Mystics all over the globe in the past and in the present use sensual imagery when they want to express their deepest relation with the sacred. The nudity of Mary Magdalene thus symbolizes her deepest and most intimate relation with the divine.

Mary Magdalene and Jesus: both being bare breasted.
An erotic message?

Look to the second picture painted by Peter Paul Rubens in 1618. Probably this picture depicts an event occurred shortly after Jesus’ resurrection when Mary Magdalene was approaching him and called him “Rabbouni” (in Aramaic with a sense of intimacy and casualness) and wished to hold on to him (John 20:11-18). But the evangelist John does not say that during the encounter, his male disciples were also there together with her. It is difficult to decide where we should locate this picture in Jesus’ lifetime. Despite this difficulty, any body however can grasp the erotic message of this picture. Both Mary Magdalene and Jesus are bare breasted, and she seems to surrender her body unto the strong and open hands of Jesus. Do they want to make love before long? Unquestionably it is not easy to answer. Or does this picture, by depicting the half nudity of Jesus and Mary, want to tell us about the mystical aspect of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? 
 

In the Gospel of Philip 63-64, we find an extraordinary text which records the erotic side of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, as follows: The companion of the savior is Mary Magdalene. The savior loved her more than all the disciples, and he kissed her often on her mouth (Marvin Meyer, The Gospels of Mary [2004], 49). The word “mouth” is uncertain because here the text has damaged. However, we still have other ancient texts which narrate the special love of Jesus for Mary Magdalene, i.e., Gospel of Mary 10; 17-18; Pistis Sophia 17; 19. Does the word “companion” in the Gospel of Philip 63-64 mean “spouse” or “wife” or “sexual partner”? Does all this text factually reveal the sexual or carnal nature of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Or does all this text wish to tell the mystical aspect of the post-resurrection relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Whatever all this text means, it seems certain that Mary Magdalene as a woman figure was an important aspect of the most intimate life of Jesus of Nazareth so that her role in Jesus’ personal life should be seriously counted.

Gautama Buddha being tempted by Maara and his hosts

Any most important religious figure of the past is usually depicted as a figure that should undergo severe temptations and ordeals and in the long run should come out as a winner. Siddharta Gautama, for example, during his quest for enlightenment and shortly after he had gained enlightenment and become the Buddha, the Enlightened One, was to face hard temptations from the Devil known in Buddhist texts as Maara or Paapimaa (=the Tempter; the Evil One; or simply the Evil). Maara is depicted as assuming a fearsome guise with a thousand arms, and as riding the elephant called Girimekhalaa. This Evil One along with his ten squadrons or “hosts” assaulted the future Buddha. In the Renunciation or Great Departure, Siddharta was tempted by Maara who appeared in the air and talked of the imminent receipt by the future Buddha of the gem-set wheel of universal monarchy. When rejected, Maara disappeared vowing to keep an eye on him like an omnipresent shadow. 
 

Buddha Gautama being tempted sexually by a daughter of Maara

It is very interesting to note that Maara had three daughters and their names are Desire, Pleasure and Delight. After their father Maara with all his hosts had failed, these three evil ladies conspired and tried to tempt Siddharta Gautama shortly after he had gotten enlightenment. They made a joint effort to destroy the Buddha’s steadiness and readiness to spread dharma to as many people as possible, employing their charms to sexually lure the Buddha. They used dance, song, music, and sweet talk as their arsenal to generate lust in the Buddha’s mind; the Buddha however showed not the slightest interest; and they failed.

Of course we know that before Jesus appeared in public as a prophet or as a messenger of God, he had been tempted by the Devil as narrated in the synoptic gospels (Mark 1:12-13; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). It is told that to Jesus, the Devil offered easy methods of acquiring food, God’s protection and messiahship, greatness and universal monarchy. In my imagination, to be somewhat complete, there should be another crucial temptation that Jesus had to cope with, that is, the temptation from an enchanting woman as Siddharta Gautama the Buddha, as it was told, had faced long ago. Sexual temptation is a normal life fact that could come either to a woman or to a man in the past and in the present, not a fiction invented out of hatred against women or against men.

The woman who could tempt Jesus sexually is of course Mary Magdalene, no other woman else. When faced with this sexual temptation, Jesus had to decide what he would do with this charming woman. Rather than letting himself continuously be tempted sexually by this woman, Jesus, again you can imagine, decided to marry Mary Magdalene. So Jesus could kiss Mary Magdalene on her mouth either to express the mystical side of his relationship with Mary, or, especially, to release his sexual impulse. 

Jesus Riding A Dinosaur: Possible? INSANE!!

Jesus riding a dinosaur? Is this possible, or is this impossible? According to those who hold creationism as their belief, that Jesus riding a dinosaur or Jesus hugging a babe dinosaur is factually possible, even probable.

We know that creationists maintain literally-understood Bible-based views concerning the Earth, the cosmos and all living creatures that inhabit the world. They firmly believe that the Bible is the words of God that cannot make any mistake in anything they tell us; the Bible, for them, is completely inerrant in anything it records. They maintain that the whole Bible should be understood literally, and that to understand the Bible rightly, one only needs faith in the literal sense of every word of the Bible. This literalist and anti-historicist position results in their idiosyncratic, irrational and insane views concerning the age of the Earth and the time in which dinosaurs lived on earth.

a dangerous Bible study for kids!! Save them Guy!

On the basis of their unscientific hermeneutics and literal reading of the text of Genesis 1:24-31 and the Matthean and Lukan genealogies (Matthew 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38), they claim that Dinosaurs lived together with mankind and that Planet Earth is 6000 years old. They imagine therefore that Jesus riding a dinosaur or that Jesus embracing a young dinosaur is factually probable! Knowing about this perhaps makes your head start spinning!

Jesus the dinosaur shepherd

According to almost all of us as intelligent and sane human beings, that Jesus riding a dinosaur or Jesus cuddling a babe dinosaur is factually impossible because the era of the domination of dinosaurs over Planet Earth had long elapsed before human beings were born from nature to dominate this planet.

skeleton of a dinosaur

Following the ground-breaking study previously conducted by Walter and Luis Alvarez, a panel of 41 scientists from across the globe (Europe, the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan) on March 4, 2010, reviewed 20 years’ worth of research in this area to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction which created a “hellish environment” around 65 million years ago and wiped out more than half of all species on Planet Earth. These scientists working on the study analyzed the work of paleontologists, geo- and atmospheric chemists, climate modelers, geophysicists and sedimentologists who had been collecting evidence about the KT extinction over the last 20 years.

According to the panel’s conclusion, a giant extraterrestrial asteroid whose width is 15 kilometers (= 9 miles) that smashed into the Earth at Chicxulub (now known as Mexico) is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

A giant asteroid/comet hitting the Earth 65 million years ago, sending debris into the atmosphere

This giant asteroid is thought to have hit the Earth with a force a billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. This unimaginably powerful collision triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale, continental landslides which created tsunamis. The “final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs” came when blasted material flew into the atmosphere, shrouding the Planet Earth in extreme darkness, causing a global deathly winter and killing many species that could not adapt to this hellish environment. Geological records show that the event that triggered the dinosaurs’ demise rapidly destroyed marine and land ecosystems. Fossil records clearly show a mass extinction about 65.5 million years ago (a time now known as the K-Pg boundary). This hellish day for dinosaurs that signaled the end of the 160-million-year reign of the dinosaurs also turned out to be a great day for mammals. The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth’s history which ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant species on Earth.

If we use science to understand and reconstruct the past, then we should say to creationists that the Jesus riding a dinosaur or hugging a babe dinosaur is the Jesus existing only in their heterodox and insane Christological imagination. They always claim that they are orthodox Christians, though in reality they are not.

The Prostitute Jesus

Let’s look to the picture above. A woman wearing a red dress, with the upper part of her body being left naked, is drinking, smoking, and laughing cheerfully, together with three men, all conducting a simple party in a rather small room. Unmistakably, the woman is pictured as a prostitute of a cheap sort, who is trying to seduce those three men. If we look closer to her, soon we find that on the other side of each of her two hand palms there is a mark of wound left open. Actually who is this woman who is showing her wounded right hand? Jesus? Why a woman?

We know that in chapter 7:36-38 the evangelist Luke relates a famous story about an unnamed prostitute washing Jesus feet, weeping, and then anointing them with perfume (concerning this episode of the Gospel of Luke, click here). But now, in the imagination of the Philippine painter of the painting above, Emmanuel Garibay, the Jesus of the famous Emmaus Story in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24:13-32 , who is breaking bread and then giving it to two of his disciples, is the prostitute Jesus who will give her sexy body to any gentleman who wants to enjoy it. Not only does Jesus love woman, he himself becomes a woman, still a prostitute. The son of god became a whore in order to be able to sympathize with all prostitutes in this world. Jesus loves whores of the world, perhaps because he is in some way related to a whore as his physical mother (see Gospel of Thomas 105; cf. Gospel of John 8:41).

Hopefully, this painting and its message are not viewed as repugnant by orthodox Christians who worship Jesus as God unadulterated by the world’s impurity altogether, housed in exclusive and closed church buildings.

A Prostitute Wearing Red Bikini Washing Jesus' Feet

Let’s look to the image above (click it for a bigger picture). Jesus is in a modern kitchen together with a woman and with no one else. The woman wears red bikini and red shoes, signifying that she is a whore in the modern era. She is washing the feet of Jesus and drying them with her hair. 

Behind her are a washbasin and a bottle of perfume which she will pour out to Jesus’ feet. None sees them, so they can do anything freely in the kitchen if they will. 

Perhaps this image shocks you, and you consider it scandalous because you can’t let someone picture your Jesus in such an indecent way. But wait a minute … and relax! Nothing is wrong! This image is a modern artistic expression of the narrative of Luke 7:36-38.

Read this biblical passage calmly. In response to the dinner invitation of one of the Pharisees, Jesus went into the house of the Pharisee and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner (hē hamartōlos), having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 

She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Clearly, this woman loves Jesus very much. That is part of what Luke relates.

A traditional image narrating Luke 7:36-38

In the Jewish society of Jesus’ time which was regulated by the purity system, such an action of this unnamed woman was extremely offensive to the respected members of the society. The Pharisee views this as humiliating (verse 39). But Luke tells us that Jesus is not embarrassed by the woman’s behavior (verses 44-48).

Who is the woman who anoints Jesus’ feet in this Lukan narrative? We do not know who she precisely is. 

Luke only reports that she is a sinner, meaning that she is a prostitute. 

Pope Gregory the Great was totally wrong when he judged in his speech made in 591 that the prostitute in this Lukan passage was Mary Magdalene. 

Fortunately, in 1969 after much debate the Vatican removed this prostitute label which had long been attached to Mary Magdalene, by separating Luke’s unnamed sinful woman, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene in the liturgical book of the Roman Catholic Church named Missale Romanum. 

We simply don’t know who this unnamed woman sinner actually is. She is to be remembered as part of the public activities of Jesus. Jesus loves women and they love him too. The woman Jesus loves the most is of course Mary Madgalene, his smartest disciple, the apostle of the apostles.

A Lady Jesus Hugging A Lamb?

The picture above is extraordinary. Mary is depicted as hugging the infant Jesus and a lamb together, expressing her motherly affection to both of them, to a human being and to an animal at the same time. The infant Jesus is sleeping soundly, not disturbed by the young sheep. Perhaps the painter (William Bouguereau) wishes to tell us that Mary anticipates that in the future Jesus will become the good shepherd of Israel who will sacrifice his life for his sheep. In John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Nevertheless, in John 1:29 the Fourth Evangelist changes Jesus metaphorically from the good shepherd to “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, and realistically from the unofficial Jewish leader to the victim of the political system of his day, from the judge to the culprit.

Look: another lady, not Mary of course, embracing a lamb! Who is she? I do not know. I got this image from the Internet. If you know her, please tell me who she is. But more importantly, do you capture the deep love of this lady for the lamb in her cuddle? This lamb peacefully lets itself be embraced by the lady as if the lady was its real mother. Perhaps you wonder how a human being, a lady, can express her affection so deeply to an animal. Imagine, you, gentlemen, are hugged by this lady in the same manner; what will you feel?

I am not certain that Jesus in his life ever embraced a lamb. In metaphor, yes, Jesus is the good shepherd of his flock. But whether in reality he was a shepherd in the literal sense of the word, no one can know for certain. That Jesus was a tektōn, an artisan, a carpenter, is certain (see Mark 6:3; Matthew 13:55). We can however imagine that this lady is Jesus himself because the picture of Jesus embracing a lamb is so common. But, do you think that the love of Jesus for a lamb is greater than the love of this lady for the lamb in her cuddle? As far as the picture conveys, I am of the opinion that this lady’s love for a lamb is greater than Jesus’. Perhaps, Jesus in his life never touched a lamb, let alone embraced it, because he was so busy with his kingdom movement, calling men, not sheep, to come into it. Nevertheless, in a metaphorical way, perhaps it is better to imagine the picture above as the picture of a lady Jesus hugging a lamb. A lady Jesus is more heart-touching indeed than a gentleman Jesus.

Jesus As The Incarnation of The Goddess Lakshmi

On the picture above, Jesus is depicted as being seated in a Lotus position, the Padma-asana, with more or less ten lotus flowers lying in front of him, and with his head being encircled by a divine halo and wearing a thorny crown. But what is more is that Jesus himself here, as far as I can see it, is described as the lotus flower itself, blossoming above its green leaves. Extraordinarily, this Jesus has four arms with the three of which being raised up. What does it symbolize? In my interpretation, it symbolizes not the Christian Trinity, but the Trimurti or the Great Trinity in Hinduism which consists of god Brahmā the creator, god Vishnu the maintainer or preserver, and god Śhiva the destroyer or transformer. The orange robe he wears symbolizes his status as a Hindu holy man and a holy teacher, replete with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. The gesture or formation of the index and middle fingers of his second hand does not refer to his divine-human nature in Christian understanding, but to the unity of Atman (soul) and Brahman in accordance with Hindu religious view. The index finger of his third hand points to his holy heart, a Christian symbol of divine compassion. This holy heart has twelve rays radiating from its depth, perhaps symbolizing his twelve beloved disciples who proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of god to the whole world.

Let us know about the lotus. Rooted in the mud, but blossoming above the water, completely uncontaminated by the mud, the lotus represents spiritual perfection, purity, integrity, honesty, wisdom and divinity, which rise above worldly contamination. Concerning the lotus, Bhagavad Gita 5.10 states, “One who performs his duty without attachment, surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord, is unaffected by sinful action, as the lotus is untouched by water.” The Confucian scholar, Zhou Dunyi, said, “I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained.” The lotus symbolism thus points to the journey of transformation from the mud of ignorance to the blossoming and enlightenment of the mind. The lotus also symbolizes the fertile growth of organic life, as the world is continually reborn on a lotus growing out of Vishnu’s navel. On the picture, all this symbolic meaning of the lotus is connected with Jesus as the blooming divine lotus.

Do you know about the four-handed goddess in Hindu religion named Lakshmi? Physically, goddess Lakshmi is described as a fair lady, with four arms, being seated or standing upon a lotus, dressed in fine garments and precious jewels, bestowing coins of prosperity and abundance and flanked by elephants signifying her royal power. The most striking feature of the iconography of Lakshmi is her persistent association with the lotus, referring to her purity, beauty, divinity and spiritual power. Symbolically, the goddess Lakshmi represents wealth, prosperity, abundance, light, wisdom, fertility, generosity and courage, as well as luck, fortune, beauty, love, grace and charm. Because of her abundant love, Lakshmi is believed to be willing to protect her dovotees from all kinds of misery and money-related sorrows. She is worshipped by Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists and many modern pagans.

Because Lakshmi is believed to be the embodiment of love, from which devotion to god or bhakti flows, it is through her that the soul (atma) is able to reach God Vishnu. Lakshmi plays a special role as the mediator between her husband Lord Vishnu and his worldly devotees. When asking Vishnu for grace or the forgiveness of sins, Hindus often approach him through the intermediary presence of Lakshmi. Due to her motherly feeling and compassion and being the consort of the Narayan or Supreme Being, Lakshmi is believed as the Mother of the Universe (Jaganmaatha).

In conclusion, if the Prologue of the Gospel of John claims that Jesus is the incarnation of the divine cosmic Word, ho Logos, the creator of the picture above believes that Jesus is the incarnation, or the embodiment, of the goddess and Mother of the Universe Lakshmi, the goddess of love, compassion, purity, wealth, wisdom and enlightenment, whose four hands are available to help the world and liberate it from poverty, ignorance, sorrows and abhorrence.

Jesus as Buddha Meditating in A Lotus Position Under The Bodhi Tree

The creator of the image above portrays Jesus as sitting in a Lotus position, the padma-asana, meditating on the meaning of life and suffering, under the Bodhi Tree, the Tree of moral enlightenment, taking the role of Siddharta Gautama, the moral teacher and founder of Buddhism later known as Gautama Buddha, in his search of liberation from suffering, dukkha, for human race.

The Bodhi Tree, or the Tree of Enlightenment, under which Siddharta Gautama achieved moral enlightenment or Bodhi, in religious iconography is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves. It takes 100-3,000 years for a Bodhi Tree to fully grow. According to Buddhist texts, Siddharta Gautama, after gaining enlightenment, spent a whole week in front of the tree standing with unblinking eyes, gazing at it with a feeling of gratitude and admiration.

By presenting Jesus as imitating Buddha Gautama in his search of liberation from suffering and ignorance and moral enlightenment, the creator of the image above interprets the kingdom of god in the teachings of Jesus from a Buddhist perspective. Thus, for him, the kingdom of god becomes the human search of liberation from suffering and unknowingness. His Jesus is an enlightened man, a Buddha.

Jesus Meditating in A Lotus Position Protected by A Seven-Headed Cobra Snake

The picture above depicts Jesus as a Yogi sitting in a Lotus position on the three-storied coiling body of a seven-headed big Cobra snake, concentrating and controlling his mind, senses and body in order to reach union with Brahman, the highest and supreme god of Hinduism, with the seven heads of this cobra draping over him to protect him from evil elements of the world.

Snake worship is an ancient and widespread religious practice in Indian customs. In ancient India, there was a wide belief that if Indians worship snake, they will not cause harm to them and their family. Indians believe that snakes have been the savior of human race from the wrath of demons and also that the earth is balanced on the head of a gigantic Cobra snake named Shesh Naag, one of the many prominent Cobras to be worshiped.

On the similar second picture above, Gautama Buddha is portrayed as taking a seat in a Lotus position under the Bodhi Tree on the four-storied coiling body of a seven-headed Shesh naag, concentrating and controlling his mind, senses and body in order to gain enlightenment necessary for the liberation of humanity from ignorance and forgetfulness. The pink Lotus flower on which Buddha sits symbolizes his purity, divinity, enlightenment, serenity, freedom from suffering, and compassion. The seven heads of this Shesh naag take the form of an umbrella to protect Buddha from all evil and dangerous elements of the world.

The Shesh Naag is viewed by Indians as the resting couch of the Lord Vishnu, one of the most important deities of Hindu religion. As one of the deities of the Trimurti or the Great Trinity of Hinduism, Lord Vishnu is depicted as having four arms, standing and flanked by the other two deities (Brahman and Shiva), and a big seven-headed Cobra protruding above his head protecting him.

Snake is considered also to be the ornament of Lord Shiva around his neck. The Cobra is even associated with the lingam, the stylized phallic symbol or emblem of the Lord Shiva, who is one of the Indian most outstanding gods.

A popular legend says that the elder brother of Lord Krishna, Balram, was the incarnation of Shesh Naag on earth.

It is clear then that the first picture above represents Jesus to be the full imitation of the Buddha, and to be in the company of the three prominent gods of Hindu religion or Trimurti: Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva, and related to Krishna, the almighty god of Hinduism. For Indians, this kind of Jesus has come to their land to give them love, compassion, safety and protection, not to convert them to a Christianity founded by Westerners.