We’ve asked the students in the Religion & Media course to post an image of Jesus for our discussion on Friday–either a favorite, or one that is provocative in some way: don’t you wish you could be there?!
I thought I would post my favorite image of Jesus–it’s from the Chinese artist He Qi:
Do you recognize the story? It’s from John 8, when Jesus saves the woman caught in adultery. Now, it takes some liberties with the story to be sure: in the John text, Jesus doesn’t literally stand in front of her protecting her from the stones. But, even if he didn’t take this exact posture, the text IS very clear that he did impose himself in between those who wanted the woman dead and the woman herself–seen here in all her vulnerability–and he risked his own life siding with her over the law.
This is Jesus the savior at his very best: standing up for the marginalized, the doomed, the outcast, and the exploited; and offering his life for the life of sinners. People today all over the world–women and men–are still at risk of being stoned to death, both literally and figuratively, with real stones, with guns, with fists, and with words; and like Christ, Christians are called to stand with them, and sometimes even in front of them.
Happy Lutheran 
As I was telling Brian, I love the work of He Qi. I especially admire the cross cultural human representations. The bold use of color and angle make it attractive to me, and at the same time keep me from getting lost in the beauty of the work. I guess what I mean is that sometimes the Christian message is lost in the soft beauty of Christian renaissance artwork. I get caught up in the allure and forget its also a biblical interpretation.
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