There is a controversial photograph called Piss Christ. Christians get up in arms at how offensive it is: Jesus in urine?
There is truth in this. I believe Jesus is God. Incarnate. Dunking Him in piss isn’t something I want done to him. I find it horrifying. I want to stop it. I want it to go away.
The photograph contains another element: a crucifix. I do not find this offensive: Jesus on a cross? Yes, that is the most normal of things.
Really, though? I must ask myself. Which is more offensive: the image of Jesus being submerged in urine? Or the real body of Jesus being beaten, spit on, hung on a cross with nails, and killed, bloody and sweaty and agonized, a spear in his side?
If I am offended by the urine, why am I not offended by the crucifix? It is the far more offensive element of the photograph, and one that is central to Christianity.
I believe the horror and profaneness of Piss Christ is exactly what Christians need: we need to be reminded how terribly offensive the cross is. Perhaps we can transfer some of that feeling of offense to the True Offense.
The personal discomfort I feel looking at Piss Christ, the image of my God soaked in an acrid refuse too vulgar for mention among polite company, is exactly the pain I ought to feel about the cross. It removes it from the religious batting that insulates my heart and brain and makes it real again.
So, go ahead, be offended. But remember what is truly offensive about it and why.
