Sunday 31 March 2013

Jesus: He’s Back – And This Time, He’s Mad



Dear readers, it would appear that once more Easter is upon us, and with it the celebration of life and resurrection from death through chocolate eggs laid by a confused rabbit.  Or so I am led to believe by the supermarket shelves. 

In honor of this occasion I have found a fantastic rendition of Jesus returning from the dead.  Apparently Jesus coming out of the tomb alive and having witnesses would not have been in keeping with his ultimate message of letting the world, including people who were not already his followers, know he just performed a great miracle; thus, most paintings of this scene feature two or three guards lying around the tomb asleep.  This version from the 15th century “Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,” however, takes this a step further.


Look at him!  Jesus is literally surrounded by the fallen bodies of heavily armed soldiers.  They’re not just asleep; they are piles of flesh, limbs akimbo, necks at awkward, broken angles. 


This Jesus was not taking his return from the dead lightly.  He was back to kick some serious butt.  And clearly he was up to the challenge of an army or two on his own, as his only companion is this guy.


A rather diminutive angel who clearly just spent waaaay too long at the tanning salon on his way to the resurrection.  There’s no way he caused that much havoc when he’s just recovering from sunstroke. 

Not content with merely taking out the world’s military forces, the resurrection was also apparently the catalyst for the next great flood, as well.


Everyone, human and angel alike, is waist-deep in water.  And when the angels are finding water levels to be getting a little uncomfortable, you know the world is in deep (ha!) trouble.

Really what this painting made me think of was this clip for Gandhi II.  You know, the spirit of Easter.  Happy Spring, everyone!

17 comments:

  1. When I read your title, I immediately thought of the Saturday Night Live skit, "Djesus Uncrossed". (http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/new-tarantino-movie/n32896/). That Jesus is even tougher than this painting's Jesus, but Djesus can't start a flood.

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    1. That would also have been an excellent reference. Successful flood-starting is pretty badass, though.

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  2. It looks like Jesus was the only one who knew it was a toga party and the soldiers drunk all the booze before the guest of honour arrived. The angel responsible for organising the bash is having a hard time explaining what went wrong.

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    1. Maybe he's blushing lots as he tries to explain! That clarifies his awkward coloring.

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  3. Gandhi II!?! Great UHF reference. I took the people in waist deep water to mean everyone had to clean up after the massive slaughter. I also like Jesus's "and I am done, boo ya" pose. This is supposed to be reverential, right? It may be more blasphemous than anything I've ever written. And that's saying a lot.

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    1. Fair enough, I suppose a thorough hosedown would have been necessary after all that. And I like to think that blasphemy is all relative...maybe Jesus likes to be part of a bit of smackdown fanart now and again.

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  4. Seriously, it looks like Jesus is telling that red-faced angel (who I believe is embarrassed because he/she/it missed the resurrection) to "talk to the hand." Poor angel, first he/she/it has a bad experience at the tanning salon and now JC won't even say "hi."

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    1. You never want to get a "talk to the hand" from Jesus. Bad things happen.

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  5. When I saw all those soldiers I thought they were sleeping. It was as if they were celebrating the return of Christ with a huge cuddle-puddle!

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    1. Well, I think they're *supposed* to be sleeping. I guess I've just led a boring life, that Ive never been to a celebration that culminated with a hundred people passed out three bodies deep.

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  6. It's looks like Jesus is on stage, looking over a very morbid moshpit :P

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    1. My mother always warned me to stay away from moshpits, especially ones at graveyards.

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  7. The Mexican "Jesus" appears to be showing off his new shoes to the little red demon in the angel wings. 'I say - Troll, yes, yes - you there - do you think buckles are quite right for an ascension ito New Haven or shall I go with the brogues? Bear in mind when you answer me that all of these other chaps got it wrong...'

    Never understood christians - if you're going to throw away free will and all vestiges of intelligence by getting down on your knees to worship some invisible god then why not at least invent one you would want to invite to dinner? Crazy!

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    1. It's important to consider your answers on fashion verrrrrry carefully to someone who has just returned from the dead and apparently KO'ed half the Roman empire.

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  8. 'Well if you weren't playing with the Holy Grenade of Antioch before I arrived' Jesus is saying, 'How come you have radiation burns and my Christian Soldiers aren't marching anywhere, never mind onwards anymore?'

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    1. I like it! That explains everything. I hope there is a vicious rabbit just off-page.

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  9. Is it just me or does that angel look like Princess Leia's hologram telling Obi Wan he's our only hope.

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