J Walking

J Walking

What does Jesus look like?

posted by David Kuo | 12:31am Tuesday March 25, 2008

What does Jesus look like?
He looks like this:
easter2-tm.jpg
My only question is which one is he?
The reality is that Jesus is both.
Jesus is the poor and the broken and lonely and the lost.
Jesus is the lover and the defender and the one who lifts when we have nothing left.
Jesus is the lion and the lamb.
So here is the story of the picture.
My friend Carlos is a pastor at a snazzy church in Atlanta, in Buckhead. I’ve never been there but the brochure looks nice. It is high tech and cutting edge and all that stuff. The altar looks like a cool concert stage. Carlos fits. He’s cool. He was on a TV show called LA Ink that chronicled the creation of the grand art he has inked into his arm – a massive tattoo showing Paul’s meeting with the Lord. This background is necessary for this:

I’m in verse 2 and I look to my left and am hit like a blind side pick and roll.
Swaying on the front row was a guy I later learned was named Matt.
Standing in front of him was another guy named Jefferson.
It was a moment that stands out above all else in my 11 years of leading worship.
You see Matt and Jefferson were worshipping God, together.
Literally.
Jefferson has severe cerebral palsy. He has little, if any control over his body.
Matt was standing behind Jefferson.
Holding Jefferson.
20 minutes.
Dancing with Jefferson and singing at the top of his lungs.
Jefferson was singing too. I think could hear him.
And it was the most beautiful song I have ever heard.

Andrew Sullivan linked to it and wrote this: [It is] Easter in an image.
Amen.



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Comments read comments(8)
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posted March 25, 2008 at 8:02 am


Beautiful “picture” David. I see Jesus being held.



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Doug

posted March 25, 2008 at 9:24 am


Amen. Great theology, too.



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Michael

posted March 25, 2008 at 9:43 am


I am just struck at how this image is apparently out of the ordinary for a Sunday service. Shouldn’t we have images plastered all over our cortex of those in the church imitating Christ? But then again, maybe there are many moments to grasp if we only pay attention. At a minimum, I should be able to recognize myself being His hands and feet.



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pagansister

posted March 25, 2008 at 10:53 am


Certainly a moving picture of true friendship and love for another person.



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jestrfyl

posted March 25, 2008 at 11:31 am


Would this be a “pieto” (masculine of Pieta?). It could also be David & Jonthan. Love takes so many marvelous forms.



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Linda Sue

posted March 25, 2008 at 12:27 pm


Saw this on ‘los blog and then at Heather, his wife wonderful picture of worship and joy. Best part was that neither young man was doing something to get attention – they were paying attention (as in really worshipping) to their Lord and Creator.



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Friar_Tuck

posted March 25, 2008 at 1:07 pm

Another day

posted March 26, 2008 at 7:06 am


Michael, this is quite a common occurence in the “Evangelical” Churches I have attended services in. This current social climate we are in in America does not lend itself to showing what happens inside Christian Churches unless it shows Christians in a negative light. Then again, that may be the typical history between Christians and non-Christians. I couldn’t take my eyes off a couple in my Church on Easter Sunday. A man (middle age) was attending to a woman (middle age)in a wheel chair that he brought to the Church. The woman had no ability to move at all. All I could see was my wife and I in that couple. That is, when I could see through my tears.



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