Day 8: Jesus rises, appears to Mary and friends, and more (Gay Passion of Christ series)

18. Jesus Rises (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“I am the resurrection and the life.” -- John 11:25 (RSV)

A handsome young Christ in blue jeans leads a joyous jailbreak in “Jesus Rises” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. He takes the hand of a prisoner as he leads the group to freedom. Jesus still bears the wounds of his crucifixion, but he glows with life and health. His inner light illuminates the grey crowd behind him.

For the first time in this series, Jesus also has a halo. Beams of light shoot from his head in four directions, forming a diagonal cross behind him. One prisoner raises a fist in victory, a broken chain dangling from his shackled wrist. Another waves his hat in celebration. Even the picture frame cannot hold back the risen Christ. Blanchard has painted it to look like the frame is cracking open at the top, letting light shine through.

This uprising is not just the resurrection of Jesus as a unique individual. All humanity rises up along with Christ. God is in solidarity with humanity in this natural yet supernatural scene. It can be read as “gay” because Jesus holds hands with another man.

The prison can stand for any kind of limitation, including the closets of shame where LGBT people hide. Viewers of this series know from the previous painting that these particular “prisoners” are the dead. Jesus overcomes death itself in this updated vision of the first Easter. Artistically Blanchard drew inspiration for some of his resurrection and post-resurrection imagery from English Romantic artist William Blake.

“Jesus Rises” will always have a special place in my heart because it is the painting that introduced me to artist Doug Blanchard back in 2005. I needed queer Christian images for the Jesusinlove.org website, which was still in the design stage. It was hard to find any kind of LGBT-oriented Christ figures, but the rarest of all was the queer resurrection. I was delighted when Internet searches finally led me to Blanchard’s “Jesus Rises.”

Doug sounded discouraged when I called him on the phone. He reported that nobody cared much about his Passion series when it was exhibited as a work in progress in 2004 by the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in New York. Later he admitted that he had expected the daring Passion series to be a “career killer.” Eventually he agreed to let me share “Jesus Rises” on my website. People loved his Passsion series there, and in my book “Art That Dares,” and at a 2007 exhibit that I helped organize at JHS Gallery in Taos. Many paintings from the series sold and are now scattered all across the country. Images from the series have appeared in magazines and on numerous blogs (both admirers and detractors). Now Blanchard considers his most successful project ever.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of God has risen upon you.” -- Isaiah 60:1 (Inclusive Language Lectionary)

Christ lives! Nobody knows exactly how it happened, but on the third day Jesus rose to new life. The mystery of resurrection replaced the law of cause and effect with a new reality: the law of love. Jesus lives in our hearts now. Just as he promised, he freed people from every form of bondage. Captives are released from every prison. LGBT people are liberated from every closet of shame. Christ glows with the colors of all beings. People of all kinds -- queer and straight, old and young, male and female and everything in between, of every race and age and ability -- together we are the body of Christ.

Jesus, you are alive! Alleluia!

19. Jesus Appears to Mary (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” -- Mark 16:9 (RSV)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of her friend Jesus early on Sunday morning. It was empty! She started crying and someone came up to her. Mary thought he was the gardener until he spoke her name. Her heart leaped as she recognized Jesus! People had wondered about her relationship with Jesus from the start. The bond that springs up sometimes between a gay man and a woman is incomprehensible to most. They don’t understand how a man and a woman can love each other without being sexual. And why would Jesus, who had many powerful male followers, pay so much attention to a woman? Yet he chose Mary as the first witness to his resurrection.

Jesus, where are you now? Will you speak to me?

20. Jesus Appears at Emmaus (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” -- Luke 24:30-31 (RSV)

A couple of Jesus’ friends met a stranger on the way to a village called Emmaus. While they were traveling together, they told the stranger about Jesus: the hopes he stirred in them, his horrific execution, and Mary's unbelievable story that he was still alive. Their hearts burned as the stranger reframed it for them, revealing how all things can work together for good. They convinced him to stay and have dinner with them in Emmaus. As the meal began, he blessed the bread and gave it to them. It was one of those moments when you suddenly recognize the presence of God. The stranger was Jesus! He had been with them all along. Sometimes even devout Christians are unable to see God’s image in people who are strangers to them, such as LGBT people or others who have been marginalized. Sometimes people are blind to their own sacred worth as incarnations of the divine. But at any moment, the grace of an unexpected encounter may open our eyes.

God, help me to recognize you.

21. Jesus Appears to His Friends (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see.’” -- Luke 24:38-39 (RSV)

Jesus’ friends were hiding together, afraid of the authorities who killed their beloved leader. The doors were shut, but somehow Jesus got inside and stood among them. They couldn’t believe it! He urged them to touch him, and even invited them to inspect the wounds from his crucifixion. As they felt his warm skin, their doubts and fears turned into joy. Jesus liked touch. He often touched people in order to heal them, and he let people touch him. He defied taboos and allowed himself to be touched by women and people with diseases. He understood human sexuality, befriending prostitutes and other sexual outcasts. LGBT sometimes hide themselves in closets of shame, but Jesus wasn’t like that. He was pleased with own human body, even after it was wounded.

Jesus, can I really touch you?

22. Jesus Returns to God (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” -- Isaiah 62:5 (RSV)

We can only imagine the bliss that Jesus felt when he returned to God. No words or pictures can express all the joy of a soul’s union with the divine, but some have compared it to sexual ecstasy or marriage. Perhaps for Jesus, it was a same-sex marriage. Jesus drank in the nectar of God’s breath and surrendered to the divine embrace. They mixed male and female in ineffable ways. Jesus became both Lover and Beloved as everything in him found in God its complement, its reflection, its twin. When they kissed, Jesus let holy love flow through him to bless all beings throughout timeless time. Love and faith touched, justice and peace kissed. The boundaries between Jesus and God disappeared and they became whole: one Heart, one Breath, One. We are all part of Christ’s body in a wedding that welcomes everyone.

Jesus, congratulations on your wedding day! Thank you for inviting me!

___
Bible background
Song of Songs: “O that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!”

23. The Holy Spirit Arrives (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and the young shall see visions, and the old shall dream dreams.” -- Acts 2:17  (Inclusive Language Lectionary)

Jesus promised his friends that the Holy Spirit would come. They were all together in the city on Pentecost when suddenly they heard a strong windstorm blowing in the sky. Tongues of fire appeared and separated to land on each one of them. Jesus’ friends were flaming, on fire with the Holy Spirit! Soon the Spirit led them to speak in other languages. All the excitement drew a big crowd. Good people from every race and nation came from all over the city. They brought their beautiful selves like the colors of the rainbow, and each one was able to hear them talking about God in his or her own language. The story of Jesus has been translated into many, many languages. Now the Gospel is also available with an LGBT accent.

Come, Holy Spirit, and inflame me with your love.

24. The Trinity (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“So then the Sovereign Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” -- Mark 16:19

What is the gay vision of heaven? The Holy Spirit inspires each person to see visions of God in his or her own way. Look, the Holy Spirit celebrates two men who love each other! She looks like an angel as She protects the male couple. Are the men Jesus and God? No names can fully express the omnigendered Trinity of Love, Lover, and Beloved… or Mind, Body, and Spirit. God is madly in love with everybody. God promised to lead people out of injustice and into a good land flowing with milk and honey. We can travel the same journey that Christ traveled. Opening to the joy and pain of the world, we can experience all of creation as our body -- the body of Christ. As queer as it sounds, we can create our own land of milk and honey. As Jesus often said, heaven is among us and within us. Now that we have seen a gay vision of Christ’s Passion, we are free to move forward with love.

Jesus, thank you for giving me a new vision!

___
This concludes a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry. For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotations are from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the Inclusive Language Lectionary (Year C), copyright © 1985-88 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

Day 7: Jesus is Buried; Jesus Among the Dead (Gay Passion of Christ series)

16. Jesus is Buried (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

A mother mourns her dead son in “Jesus is Buried” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. Mary leans over Jesus, ready to kiss his ashen face goodbye. A tag from a morgue is tied around his wrist. His corpse is bloodless and wrapped in a plain white sheet. A gravedigger shovels dirt from the grave where Jesus will be buried. A simple wooden coffin waits. The night is dark with city lights in the distance.

This scene is not found in the Bible, but it is a traditional subject in art history known as the Lamentation. The standard Lamentation shows Jesus on a shroud before his tomb while Mary bends to kiss his face. The Pieta, which shows Mary cradling his body, is a special type of Lamentation. The subject was especially popular in Christian art from the Middle Ages to the Baroque era. The gospels do report that women were the first to visit Jesus’ tomb.

“They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom.” -- John 19:40 (RSV)

After Jesus died, the authorities allowed one of his friends to take his body for burial. Almost all of his many supporters were gone. Jesus’ body was laid to rest in a fresh tomb at sundown, just before the sabbath began. When they buried him, they also buried a beautiful part of themselves. Sometimes the humiliations continue even after death… when homophobes picket the funerals of the LGBT people and other outcasts, when mortuaries refuse to handle the bodies of AIDS patients, when families exclude same-sex partners from memorial services, on and on. Jesus understood grief and didn’t try to suppress it. He said, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Jesus, I wait in silence at your grave.

17. Jesus Among the Dead (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

Endless rows of corpses fill an almost-black image in “Jesus Among the Dead.” Even in death, Jesus is not separate from humanity. He lies with the stink, the dead bodies, and the skeletons. This must be hell, or some human holocaust. Perhaps there is no difference.

The Bible doesn’t tell what Jesus experienced between crucifixion and resurrection, but many artists and theologians over the centuries have been eager to imagine it. The Apostle’s Creed clearly states, “He descended into hell,” or in another translation, “He descended to the dead.” The subject is traditionally known as the Harrowing of Hell, when Christ descends to hell or limbo to rescue the souls held captive there since the beginning of time. Blanchard based the composition on photographs of the Holocaust, especially photos of the dead laid out in long rows after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Nordhausen in 1945.

There are many hells and many types of limbo in which people are trapped neither fully alive nor dead. For example, the US Supreme Court overturned state sodomy laws in 2003, but same-sex marriage is still illegal in almost every state, leaving most LGBT people to exist in a non-quite-legal limbo.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...” -- Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (RSV)

Like all human beings, Jesus eventually had to experience death. In effect, it was like he was buried in a mass grave with all humankind -- saints and sinners, gay and straight, male and female, all of us without exception. His body rested in peace with the other corpses. Jesus didn’t believe death was the end. During his lifetime, he often talked about the afterlife. He said he would always be with us, connected like a vine connects to a branch. But when his body lay cold in the tomb, his friends simply missed him.

God, even death cannot separate me from your love.

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry.  For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotation is from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Day 6: Jesus goes to his execution, is nailed to the cross, and dies (Gay Passion of Christ series)

13. Jesus Goes to His Execution (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

A modern Christ figure carries a wooden crossbeam through the city in “Jesus Goes to His Execution” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. The bleeding Jesus is surrounded by guards with guns and men who aim news cameras at him.

The Bible records that Jesus was forced to walk to the execution grounds carrying the cross on which he would be crucified. The story emphasizes that people play a role in their own oppression. For LGBT people, it is a solemn reminder that persecution includes being forced to carry our own crosses by internalizing homophobia as self-hatred and guilt.

“So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.” -- John 19:17 (RSV)

The soldiers made Jesus walk to the execution grounds. They forced him to carry the cross on which he would be crucified. It was big news and crowds gathered along the road. They had watched Jesus rise to mass popularity, and now they wanted to see his fall. Almost everyone jeered at him. Surely some of the hecklers had been among his followers. Maybe they shouted louder than the rest to prove that they were not associated with Jesus -- like closeted lawmakers who loudly oppose LGBT rights. The crowd also included some women who wailed in grief. Jesus turned to them and said, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves.

God, my heart breaks when I remember how Jesus died. Create in me a new heart with greater ability to love.

14. Jesus is Nailed to the Cross (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

Bruised and bleeding, a condemned man cries out in agony as a spike is hammered through his wrist in “Jesus is Nailed to the Cross.” The guard shows no emotion as he pounds a cruel spike through human flesh and bone. A shadowy guard in sunglasses keeps people away with a rifle while paparazzi eagerly record the horror from behind. Even the frame appears to be spattered with blood.

“There they crucified him.” -- Luke 23:33 (RSV)

The soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross. It was high noon on Friday. The pounding of the hammer left no room for neutrality. People were forced to choose sides, us versus them. If you didn’t want to be a victim, you had to join the perpetrators. The psychic terror extended to everyone who watched. By abusing one person, the authorities intimidated everyone like him, everyone who was different in any way… religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, whatever. And what about the men who nailed him to the cross? Their actions were monstrous, but Jesus still saw their humanity. He prayed, God, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.

God, help me channel my outrage at wrongdoing into a creative force for good.

15. Jesus Dies (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“While the sun’s light failed… he breathed his last.” -- Luke 23:44-46

“Jesus Dies” places Christ’s crucifixion against a 21st-century city skyline. Some spectators cheer while others pray. Many, including some priests, watch grimly. Dark clouds gather in the sky above. Jesus looks dead.

Until now the images in this Passion series mostly seem plausible, but as Jesus dies the series enters a different realm, a soulscape of faith and symbolism. Public crucifixions do not happen in contemporary New York City in a literal sense. Crucifixions happen every day in a metaphoric way -- every time anyone does violence to another. Many queer people have died in circumstances of abuse and humiliation.

After an almost suffocating close-up focus on the torture of Jesus in the last four images, this Good Friday painting takes a step back. We get the big picture, seeing the crowd, the horizon, and the open sky.

The crucifixion could be taking place on top of a building, or on some kind of terrace. The scaffolding for the cross is an old sign frame, like the one on top of the red brick building in the back right. The outline of a skyscraper like the Empire State Building stands tall in the distance. Its presence hints at a subtext of this Passion: the 9/11 terrorist attacks that happened near Blanchard’s art studio while he was painting the series. The World Trade Center is missing from the skyline; it has gone up in smoke like the dark clouds gathering above Jesus.

“He said, ‘It is finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” -- John 19:30 (RSV)

As Jesus hung dying on the cross, the crowd mocked him. A few of his supporters watched from the distance. Among them were his mother and the man he loved. One of Jesus’ last wishes was to make them into a new kind of family. When he saw his mother and his beloved standing together at the cross, he used some of his last breath to call to his mother, Woman, behold your son! And to his beloved, he said, Behold your mother! They were helpless to stop the tragedy, but they chose to be present and keep on loving. All the suffering of a broken world seemed to come together at the crossroads of those terrible hours. After about three hours on the cross, Jesus shouted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Nothing left, he emptied himself completely. With another loud cry, he died. His loving heart stopped beating. The death of Jesus was unique, and yet it was also terribly common. Whenever anyone commits violence against another, Christ is crucified.

God, help me find meaning in the brutal death of Jesus.

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry.  For the whole series, click here.

Scripture quotation is from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Day 5: Jesus before the soldiers; Jesus is beaten (Gay Passion of Christ series)

11.Jesus Before the Soldiers (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him.” -- Luke 23:11 (RSV)

Marine look-alikes torment a naked man in “Jesus Before the Soldiers” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. Jesus kneels, naked and vulnerable, as a knife-wielding soldier grabs him by the hair. War dogs bark at him like hounds from hell, baring their teeth. A leering soldier flips the finger at him while another holds an AK-47 assault rifle. They are crowded in a claustrophobic space. Behind them a skull sits inside a gaping black hole.

I find this painting and the next one (“Jesus is Beaten”) to be the most terrifying images in the series. It hurts to look at them. After these, death comes as a relief. Maybe that’s the point.

The arch in back adds a black halo to the scene. There is no other way to identify the nude prisoner as Jesus -- except by remembering his words, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” Whenever anyone commits violence against another, Christ is crucified -- including when LGBT people are attacked or killed for loving someone of the same sex.

When looking at these paintings of violence and nudity, it is essential to keep them in the holy context of Christ’s suffering. Otherwise they only glorify violence or fuel sadomasochistic fantasies, adding to the exploitation in the pictures. These explosive subjects must be handled with care. Blanchard paints the frame around all 24 images in the series, but in these two images the frame is especially important. The frame puts the torture in context, naming Jesus and numbering it to show that it is part of a larger story. Even so, we viewers do become accomplices as the soldiers leer out at us, urging us to laugh as they hurt and humiliate their victim. Note that this frame bears the scars of war: a bullet hole and a gash.

Both paintings are reminiscent of the notorious photos showing U.S. soldiers and military contractors abusing and torturing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The photos caused a major scandal when they became public in 2004, the same year that these were painted. Here it’s worthwhile remembering that the artist is a New Yorker who used these paintings to work through his feelings about the religious motivation of 9/11 terrorist attack there, which led to war with Iraq, which led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

There are Biblical parallels for these images. “Jesus Before the Soldiers” is a modern version of Jesus being mocked by soldiers and crowned with thorns . “Jesus is Beaten” is a new interpretation of Jesus being scourged, a scene often called “The Flagellation” in art history.

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus… and they stripped him.” -- Matthew 27:27-28 (RSV)

The soldiers pulled off Jesus’ clothes and mocked him with contempt. They made ethnic jokes about him for being Jewish, and taunted him as a “king” because he taught that God’s kingdom of love is here and now. They could have used “queer” or a “faggot” or “lezzy” or any other slur. Whatever the words, whenever one person insults another, a child of God is humiliated. As Jesus said, whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me. The soldiers were young men similar to Jesus in many ways. The bullying was done by the soldiers, but the religious leaders were also to blame for the cruelty. The priests had set the stage for violence by calling Jesus a sinner. They targeted Jesus, but the pain spread far beyond him to terrorize many more people.

God, wherever there is hate and violence, make me a means of love and peace.

12. Jesus is Beaten (from The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision) by Douglas Blanchard

“Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.” -- John 19:1 (RSV)

Pilate, the magistrate, ordered that Jesus be scourged -- a severe whipping before execution. This cruel punishment was state-sponsored terrorism against a man who defied the established order and hierarchy by teaching love for all. When they hit him, they did violence to everyone who has ever dared to be different. The charge against Jesus was treason, but his “crime” might have gone by a different name in another time and place. Governments have imposed similar tortures on people who threaten the social order in various ways, including homosexuality. The painful scourging left Jesus bleeding and in shock.

Jesus, you are no distant, untouchable God. You experienced human suffering firsthand. Be with all who suffer… and with all who cause suffering.

Scripture quotation is from Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

___
This is part of a series based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a set of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard, with text by Kittredge Cherry.  For the whole series, click here.

Conservatives attack Kitt’s queer Christ article

“The Crucifixion of the Christ”
by Becki Jayne Harrelson
appeared on the HuffPo article

Newsbusters.org, a major conservative watchdog group, posted an attack today on my recent Huff Post article on the queer Christ.

They called my ideas about the queer Christ “laughable” and “riddled with distortions, half-truths, fantasies, and baseless speculations” in an article titled “Huffington Post Promotes ‘Queer Christ.’” With a goal of “exposing and combating liberal media bias,” Newsbusters is a project of the Media Research Center, which has an annual budget of more than $10 million.

But even these wealthy conservatives cannot deny that Jesus may have been queer! They just believe that if he was homosexual, he was celibate. (I never said he wasn’t.)

As Newsbusters put it:

Cherry began her last paragraph with this ridiculous quote: “Being human, Jesus must have had sexual feelings. Being divine, Christ lives in every individual of every different shade of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

But being the perfect human, Christ was able to direct and control His impulses. Homosexuals are indeed welcomed by Christians – and can and do live happy and fulfilled lives – while still holding to Christian teachings on homosexuality.

At least they sent a lot more readers to my original article at Huff Post, Queer Christ Arises to Liberate and Heal.

Conservatives have called me names before and even gave me the “Dumb Dora Award for Blasphemous Burlesque.” But this is the first time that I’ve seen a detailed right-wing rebuttal the concept of a queer Christ. The fact that Newsbusters went to the trouble of denouncing the queer Christ actually proves the point I made at the beginning of my HuffPo piece: “Visions of a queer Christ are on the rise as Easter approaches this year.”