1 post tagged “thomas kinkade”
James Martin's article in Slate yesterday (Happy Crossmas? Why Easter Stubbornly Refuses Commercialization) offers an insightful look into the troubling nature of contemporary Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus.
He also asks: why is it that Easter hasn't gone that same route? His answer is the Easter message doesn't sell:
Despite the awesome theological implications (Christians believe that the infant lying in the manger is the son of God), the Christmas story is easily reduced to pablum. How pleasant it is in mid-December to open a Christmas card with a pretty picture of Mary and Joseph gazing beatifically at their son, with the shepherds and the angels beaming in delight. The Christmas story, with its friendly resonances of marriage, family, babies, animals, angels, and—thanks to the wise men—gifts, is eminently market
able to popular culture. It's a Thomas Kinkade painting come to life.
On the other hand, a card bearing the image of a near-naked man being stripped, beaten, tortured, and nailed through his hands and feet onto a wooden crucifix is a markedly less pleasant piece of mail.
Martin suggests that it isn't only the cross, though, that defies crass commercialization; it is the resurrection story of Easter that won't easily budge:
Even agnostics and atheists who don't accept Christ's divinity can accept the general outlines of the Christmas story with little danger to their worldview. But Easter demands a response. It's hard for a non-Christian believer to say, "Yes, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead." That's not something you can believe without some serious ramifications...
Seems to me that some good, old-fashioned temple cleansing is in order.
