when speaking of western art, one cannot ignore christian paintings, in particular those depicting jesus. jesus is central to western art as christianity is the spiritual foundation of the west. however, the nature of economic and sociopolitical systems that adopted christianity caused the meaning of jesus to be twisted, and his depiction to become separate from his original message. originally, he was a humble god who stepped down to experience flesh and the burden of sin. now, he has become another symbol of elitism; one that rejects the common lay man in favor of something bigger. i believe the reason for that is because of the elitism surrounding jesus in the past has crawled into the present.
jesus himself:
jesus is an interesting god. his story is that of humility and suffering, rather than luxury and war. jesus is god experiencing humanity. he stepped down from his throne and came to earth to feel for himself what is it like to be a human. a king who willingly became a layman. he taught people, and later he had to feel a central part of the human experience: pain. he was crucified and then died on the cross, completing the lifecycle of a human. his death on the cross gave humanity salvation from the original sin. aside from the cross, there are other times when jesus demonstrated human suffering in the bible. for example, when he wept about lazarus.
jesus is a symbol of suffering, salvation, love, and humility. he is a king who lived, suffered, and died like a layman. jesus challenged the norms, and taught people to respect others’ dignity and to lead a humble life. however, the original meanings have been inverted.
church and control:
as the church was established as an institution and eventually was run by the elites and used for managing society, the depiction of jesus was used to assert the elites’ position. the church had a monopoly on jesus. as laymen couldn’t read and had insufficient resources, visuals served as a secondary tool in learning at the church, and a primary tool for remembering what they learn at home. and what they were taught is mindless submission for the elites.
depicting jesus became a necessity to connect the oppressed to the religion that pacifies them. and the church held the bible away from the public. only what they want to be revealed can be revealed. only what they want the public to know about jesus can be known.
jesus, the humble god, is now an icon that is unreachable. they can see him, but they can’t read his words. they can see him, but they can’t reach him. he was reachable by the clergy in expensive garments, with gemstones, and gold; and the lay man, who jesus descended as, had to ask for intercession by those elites to reach the humble god.
the church itself owned lands and serfs, and preached humility for the poor although the rich needed it more. paintings and sculptures were (and still are) commissioned for a lot of money, money that is better spent on the poor. the cost that came with the paintings and sculptures made them not just tools to aid the illiterate layman, but also tools to assert the church’s elevated status. the paintings say: look what we have, look how much we can afford. and it puts jesus as the signature. so, a painitng or a sculpture of jesus becomes:
look how powerful this institution is!
-the church
jesus as a commodity:
today, jesus is a commodity to be owned, used, and sold. priests are prideful, churches are greedy, and their followers cannot stop preaching the rich man’s morals of capitalism (in its many kinds). jesus is their private property. jesus is what they own, what they sell, and what the people consume. religious podcasts and online content made by both “believers” and priests are examples of the commodification of jesus. it is an industry.
the church in the past depicted jesus as being white – european – although he was just a middle eastern lay man; likely not with fancy-looking clothes, clear white skin, brown hair, or fit physique. these are all western standards of beauty rather than the reality of what jesus looked like. as a result, europeans and white americans have consumed jesus as a white man close to perfection, and thus use him or symbols invoking him like the cross as a tool to provide them superiority. they consume jesus because he is seen as representative of their own racial group and their superiority. it is neither the podcast nor jesus that matters to them, but their sense of superiority. this superiority can be in terms of morals, race, culture, or a mix of those. this is the link between the elitism of jesus of the past and that of the present: the old biased depictions of jesus.
the christian media of today is the same as the depictions of the past. it has a message other than jesus’s teachings. it is designed for the layman who for whatever reasons does not pick up the bible to read it and form personal understanding of it. the christian media of today is meant to imprint certain beliefs and ideas into the minds of those that consume the media, which happens to involve elitism of a different kind than that of the past.
elitism and human nature:
when we combine the overwhelming elitism surrounding jesus with the human ego, we can see explanation for why most priests are very far from being humble, wise, or kind. priests are the inversion they are supposed to be against.
and the result of all that, jesus today is still not for the common man. from american christianity which promotes imperialist wars, all the way to the oppressed priests in the middle east who preach with hate and anger. although jesus is inclusionary and accepted humanity by becoming human, these religious fanatics have turned jesus to a symbol of exclusion. the icons in the entrance of a church no longer tell “all is welcome”, but tell “members only”. the cross is not treated as the symbol of the god who suffered for humanity, but as a symbol of rejection, of a god who rejected humanity.
just like buying a diamond and wearing it signals higher status and wealth, wearing the cross no longer signals devotion to jesus or living by his teachings, but the exact opposite. the cross, the idea of jesus, is now like the diamond: worn to signal status. this one is usually of a moral status. however, it is increasingly becoming a status of superiority in general.
this is something i noticed to be present not just in christianity but other religions. people would be surprised to see how little a buddhist monk can know or understand about the teachings of buddha. i believe this is caused by the fact that people are usually born into the religion they follow. and even if they are not born into their religion, there is still an element of moral superiority to be sought in being religious.
conclusion:
jesus is a humble god that taught people to lead a life of love and humility. he is a god who became a layman. however, given sociopolitical conditions at certain times in the past, the church became an elitist institution that monopolized the bible and used depictions of jesus to teach the illiterate laymen and pacify them. as of today, jesus is not for the layman. as jesus has been commodified, and the current christian media sell jesus and christianity for laymen to consume, but it contains more than just the teachings of jesus. just as in the past the church depicted jesus as a white man for certain political agendas, now the christian content on the internet does the same: using jesus for certain political interests. the elitism surrounding jesus has turned him and the cross to symbols of exclusion and elevated moral status. however, this issue can be observed in other religions, as likely it stems from dogma and the sense of moral superiority that comes with any religion.