McJesus

On the wall of a museum in Haifa, Israel, hangs a controversial work of art by Finnish artist Jani Leinonen, entitled “McJesus.” It is part of an exhibition called “Sacred Goods,” which is “the responses of contemporary artists to issues of religion and faith in the contemporary global reality, which is dominated by the consumer culture,” according to the museum’s website.

McJesus is a large crucifix with Ronald McDonald in the role of Christ. A clown on a cross. It has caused an uproar in the Christian community of the Holy Land and led to a protest outside the museum that had to be quelled by Israeli police. There have been calls by the Christian community to have it removed, as offensive to that country’s minority Christians. (One can only imagine what would have happened if the Torah or Muhammad had been disparaged in a work of art!)

I have to admit that my initial reaction to the sculpture was one of visceral disgust. I immediately took offense. My second thought was sympathy for my Arab Christian sisters and brothers in Israel and Palestine, who have to regularly endure so many indignities from both Muslims and Jews. This is just one more. My third reaction was empathy for Muslims.  I realized that I was feeling what many Muslims feel when cartoonists depict Muhammad in a degrading manner.

Only after I processed my emotions for a few days, posted the article about the museum on Facebook and read a very insightful comment from a friend, could I return to the sculpture with fresh eyes. Then I could view it, not as the work of an insensitive provocateur, but a statement about the present state of Christianity. I was forced to ask the question: Is this piece of art saying something we need to hear? Has the Western Christ become a clownish figure, a commercialized caricature of the historical Jesus?

I thought of the image of Christ that I had grown up with in American Protestantism: Sallman's “Head of Christ,” with Jesus pictured as a white male with soft brown hair and dreamy eyes. Variations on this Gentile Jesus fill Sunday school literature and stained glass windows to this day. The greasepainted Ronald is not too much different. Yet I never reacted with negativity to my cultural stereotype of Christ.

This crucified clown confronts us with the commercialization of today's Christianity: the obscene salaries of megachurch pastors, the plush worship centers, the vacuity of entertainment masquerading as worship, the vulgarity of the health and wealth gospel, the trinkets for sale in Christian bookstores, and the scandal of a politicized Evangelicalism that sells its soul for political power.

Suddenly Ronald McDonald on the cross began to look like an accurate depiction of western Christianity. This scandalous work of art started to look more like a modern prophecy, a word from God spoken to God's wayward people, who have forsaken the crucified Christ for a Golden Calf. (Incidentally Jani Leinonen has also created a “McBuddha” sitting in the lotus positon, depicting the similar Western enculturation of Buddhism.)

The McJesus crucifix still offends me when I look at it, which it should. It is too true not to offend.  But it also has made me look deeply at why it offends me. That is a good thing. I hope it remains hanging in that museum and offends many more people. Then maybe we Christians will look more carefully at the Christ we profess to worship, and make sure he is the real Jesus.