I was in a Christian bookstore in St. Louis not that long ago. I was walking around looking at the different books on the shelves and trinkets that you could buy. I really didn’t see much that I thought was worth my attention, so I started heading to the door. Before I got to the door, however, sitting out in the “impulse buy” section of the store I found Jesus.
Yes. I found Jesus. Now this isn’t going to be some sort of altar call story about how I found Jesus in a bookstore. What I found was a plastic Jesus statue that you could glue to the dashboard of your car.
Intrigued, I picked up the figure of Jesus. Peering through the plastic packaging I saw a small 4 inch replica of what we often think Jesus looking like. He was slightly Caucasian looking with dark hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a robe and a red sash. He was spotless. There wasn’t a single mark on him. Apparently, although the packaging didn’t say anything about this, this was the “pre-crucifixion” Jesus action figure.
I imagined how this merchandizing line could continue itself. There could be accessories and different action figures to go along with each story of Jesus’ life. You could buy a purple robe and crown of thorns for “suffering Jesus.” You could maybe buy a communion set for Jesus so that he could institute the first Lord’s Supper. Maybe you could even buy a shrunk down version of Jesus for Advent and Christmas.
Later on that day, I got to thinking about how we
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