The Commodification of Jesus
http://www.veritaspa.org/uploaded_images/McJesus-764145.bmp
So yesterday I got back from the Creation Festival in Mount Union, PA. We have gone every year with the youth group from Hempfield COB. It was a bittersweet time because this will probably be the last one for a while. But I have this love hate relationship with the Festival.
I love hanging out with people. I love eating with people. I love seeing people I haven’t seen for awhile and catching up. I love some of the bands and the speakers. But the one thing that drives me up a wall every year is the jesus junk that is being sold…especially alot of the T-Shirts.
The one that bothered me the most this year is represnted by the picture above. It said “mcJesus..Over one bilion saved.” This shirt to me represents a troubling trend..the commodification of Jesus. What this shirt is really saying is that Jesus is a product that can be bought and sold. That when we “accept Jesus” into our lives we are making a business transaction. That we “go to a church” on Sunday and attend a worship service, where we are being served by the Pastor and leaders. Also there is the whole problem of consumerism that Tony Campolo speaks about in “Lord Save Us From Your Followers”. We are way too comfortable with consumerism in the evangelical world.
Maybe I read into things too much….but people need to think about what they are making when they make t-shirts that they think are clever. Most of the time they are a rip off of something in the world, which is not clever, not original, and not artistic. And there are the meanings behind the t-shirts that the designer didn’t think about. Jesus is not a product to be bought and sold. Jesus is Lord and is to be followed and served.
29 Jun 2009 RyanBraught 1 comment