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by Artist Cossimo Cavalloro, a practicing Catholic, has infuriated more conservative followers with his construction of a chocolate Jesus called "My Sweet Lord." The 200 pound, milk chocolate sculpture was scheduled for display in New York City following Palm Sunday. Catholic League leader Bill Donohue describes the statue as "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever. It's not just the ugliness of the portrayal but the timing-to choose Holy Week is astounding." Perhaps there is a little irony over finding distaste in Cavalloro's chocolate Jesus that may be more akin to the intended Easter story than the contemporary practices currently in place.
OmniNerd has previously reported on how Christianity assimilated elements of pagan worship into the story of Christmas. Despite no longer being religious in nature, the American tradition of Halloween can trace origins to Celtic and Roman practices. Just as the holiday celebrating of Jesus' birth is mired in questionable origin, so is that which celebrates his rebirth. The timing of Easter, along with symbols and the story of resurrection, has been linked to sun worship, the annual resurrection of Attis [coincidentally also an immaculate birth] and even to the life of Hinduism's Krishna. The rationale behind such assimilations was the difficulty the Roman church had in the fourth century with converting the European pagans to Christianity. The church recognizes the origin of the Easter story and the incongruence of associating the resurrection with chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks and painted eggs. For the faithful in the know, contemporary Easter traditions are often associated with a clever deception by Satan.
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Forgetting for a moment that I don't believe the mythology, I definitely don't get why this is so offensive.
It can hardly be because the materials used for the construction of the statue are edible. The overwhelming majority of Christian sects include a weekly ritual in which they eat Jesus. For some it's symbolic - the only difference is it's bread, not chocolate. For others, when the priest says the magic words, there's a literal transformation of the foodstuff. Most still think it tastes like bread. Almost nobody thinks it tastes like chicken (or any kind of flesh, for that matter).
Anyway, given a weekly ritual of eating Jesus (symbolically or literally) by Christians around the world, how can a chocolate statue be particularly offensive?
Ah - wait. Now I've read the actual article. The complaint isn't just the chocolate, it's the nudity. No loincloth. Ok, now to me, that just makes it funny.
I mean, come on. It's a chocolate Jesus. I don't think this guy was intentionally trying to be blasphemous or anything ... the news stories even point out that food is this artist's unique medium (cheese, ham, etc). Nothing devious or subversive or sacreligious there ... and a far cry indeed from the likes of Piss Christ.
For you Bob and Tom listeners out there, this reminds me of a song by comedian Heywood Banks ...
In southern Ohio, just north of Cincinnati
I beheld a vision, next to the expressway.
Was a 60 foot jesus, with his hands in the air
looks like he’s carved out of butter,
just like at the state fair.
Big butter Jesus
Sweet cream Jesus
Oh country fresh Jesus
Unsalted Jesus
Oh Promise Jesus
Imperial Jesus
Can’t believe it’s not Jesus
Oleo Lord.
Well you see him from the chest up
like he’s about to do a back flip,
like he scored a touchdown
or maybe melting or about to drown.
Well I’ve been to the state fair
seen a cow made out of corn cobs
Garth Brooks made of string cheese
and the virgin out of olives.
Big butter Jesus
Sweet cream Jesus
Oh country fresh Jesus
Unsalted Jesus
Oh Promise Jesus
Imperial Jesus
Can’t believe it’s not Jesus
Oleo Lord.
Shipped in pieces on a flatbed
staring backwards was his big head
Driver stuck in traffic backups
desperately avoiding eye contact
Well don’t make no graven images.
That’s one of the 10 commandments
I hope the grading curve is kindly
You get to heaven with a 90
Big butter Jesus
Sweet cream Jesus
Oh country fresh Jesus
Unsalted Jesus
Oh Promise Jesus
Imperial Jesus
Can’t believe it’s not Jesus
Oleo Lord.
Can’t believe it’s not Jesus,
Oh spread the word.
The point is, it's not offensive, it's funny. Even religious folk should be able to laugh at themselves once in awhile.
Bruce R. McConkie summarized Easter pretty succintly and accurately, I thought:
Easter is the church festival celebrated by Christians in commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord. The lone scriptural reference to it (Acts 12:4) should have been translated Passover from the Greek pascha found in the original. The Easter comes from the Norse goddess Eastre whose festival was observed at the vernal equinox. In 325 AD the Council of Nicea determined that Easter among Christians should be celebrated the first Sunday after the full moon on or following the vernal equinox.
Obviously, Easter as now celebrated has come into being as a compromise between pagan and apostate Christian views, and obviously it does not pretend to be the anniversary of the actual resurrection of Christ. Nonetheless he true saints gladly take it as an appropriate occasion on which to turn their attentions to the infinite and eternal atonement of Christ as such was climaxed by his coming forth as the firstfruits of them that slept.
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A Question of Etiquette by Anonymous :: NR0 :: on 02 April 2007
Now ... kids always laugh and giggle when they eat the head or the butt from a chocolate rabbit. What happens when pieces of chocolate Jesus are being handed out and you receive ... the anatomically correct phallus?
RE: A Question of Etiquette by VnutZ :: NR8 :: on 02 April 2007
What happens when pieces of chocolate Jesus are being handed out and you receive ... the anatomically correct phallus?
I just don't think I could bring myself to eat it.