Obama as Jesus



I'm really not sure what the fuss is about. Somebody dresses Barack Obama up in a sculpture as if he's Jesus -- so what? Is it offensive because it seems to mix church and state? Is it offensive because it's a Black Jesus? Is it because GOP candidates wish it had been them?
The sculptor, David Cordero, has offered his take on why he did this:
All of this is a response to what I've been witnessing and hearing, this idea that Barack is sort of a potential savior that might come and
absolve the country of all its sins," Cordero said. "In a lot of ways it's about caution in assigning all these inflated expectations on one individual, and expecting them to change something that many hands have shaped."
This is a good observation -- we tend to have this expectation of our politicians. The knight in shining armor or the savior of us all. Such expectations are unwarranted and detrimental to the efforts of any person. But on the other hand, the statue, though not perhaps intended, does suggest a theological idea. If Barack Obama is a Christian, he's supposed to be Christ-like. So, maybe this is simply a way of saying that Barack Obama is a follower of Jesus who has put on Jesus (symbolized by robe and halo). For Obama the only question is, does he want to be like Jesus? George Bush said Jesus was his favorite philosopher -- I've not seen much of Jesus in his policies. Obama says he is a follower of Jesus, now we wait to see if his policies will reflect Jesus' concern for the poor, the marginalized, the captive and the imprisoned, the sick and the maimed.

So, am I offended? Surely not. I would hope that I have put on Christ myself! Or as it is put in Galatians 3:27 (NRSV style) --- "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. "

Comments

Paul said…
Honestly, if it were Jesus running instead of Obama I don't know how much good he could do in a system where you can't get the money to be elected without massive financial backing from special corporate interests.

He'd run on some platform involving doing good and sacrificing for the sake of the larger world and everybody would just laugh.
Robert Cornwall said…
Unfortunately you're right about this! If any candidate were to take lessons for Jesus they'd get laughed out of existence. Of course, we know Jesus got killed. Thanks.

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