HiddenMysteries: The Religious Right Crucify Jesus All Over

By Gina-Marie Cheeseman

The glorious paradox at the center of Christianity, which presents a God incarnate in an individual who identified with the marginalized and despised, and was tortured to death as a political subversive, ensures that diversity and critical reconstruction are integral aspects of the Christian tradition.

Ruth Mantin, Embodying Feminist Liberation Theologies

The Religious Right stole Jesus; the Jesus of the Gospels who fed the five thousand, treated women with respect, and subverted the religious and political structures of his day. They have taken the Jesus who was a political radical and executed for his radical politics, replacing him with a smiling, weak, and money-loving Jesus.

They stripped Jesus of his politics. They have made the politics of Jesus all about taking away the rights of women. They have made Jesus into something he was not, someone he would despise.

They stole Jesus, but I am taking him back from their sexist theology. I am claiming the Jesus that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote about; the Jesus who talked to a Samaritan woman, healed women, and hung out with people society tossed away. I am taking back the real Jesus and casting aside their Jesus. I do not need that one any longer.

They have re-crucified Jesus. Too many churches crucify him every week. Every time they tell women their husbands are the heads of the households, or refuse to allow women a seat at the proverbial table, they put him on the cross, pushing nails through his wrists.

I lay aside the notion that as a woman I must be under a man. Jesus chose to subvert the sexism of his day, and I follow his example. I declare I am my own head, and do not need a man to be my head. I submit to Jesus and myself, and not a man. It is only fitting I make these declarations, for I follow a radical.

They stole Jesus, and left him in his tomb. They put aside his resurrection by fashioning him into an image which suits their interests. I stand with the women who first saw the empty tomb, and proclaim, “Jesus is not there anymore! He’s alive! The radical is alive!”

I sit down next to the resurrected Jesus, and not at his feet. I can look him in the eyes, and know I am accepted as a woman, and not in spite of my gender. I can cast behind me all the notions of dominant patriarchy which have been foisted on me as I sit with this Jesus. I can reclaim my worth, and lift my head up.

Jesus—God among us, the incarnate deity, walks beside us, and does not look down from above. His is not a lofty position for he choose to dwell here on earth. Their Jesus sits in heaven, constantly judging, his finger pointed whenever we do wrong. They can have their Jesus. I would rather have the real deal.

Authors Website: www.truthtellingforum.com

Authors Bio: Gina-Marie Cheeseman is a freelance writer with a passion for social justice. She grew up on a vineyard ranch in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Her brain has not been fried from too much Fresno sunshine.

http://www.opednews.com/

The Religious Right Crucify Jesus All Over - Again & Again & Again

Tuesday, May 15 2007 @ 07:51 AM CDT