Jokey Jesus may raise Christian ire in New Zealand

A poster depicting a jokey Jesus on the cross – due to be put up tomorrow – is likely to raise Christian hackles in New Zealand.

The cartoon Jesus, to be erected by St Matthew’s in Aukland, is saying: “Well this sucks. I wonder if they will remember anything I said . . .” The church made headlines around the world at Christmas with a picture of Mary and Joseph in bed, causing the poster to be vandalized by local people. “Tomorrow, which is also April Fools’ Day, St Matthew’s in Auckland will put up its first billboard of the year, designed to use humour to encourage debate and discussion,” reports the UK Christian think tank Ekklesia. “The poster also draws attention to the tendency of some in the churches to focus exclusively on Jesus’s death as the expense of his teachings. “Christians who believe that Jesus’s words and example of love and forgiveness should be central to their faith have frequently expressed concern about the actions of some churches who they feel do not take their Bibles seriously, particularly with regard to issues of justice.” The think tank quotes Glynn Cardy, vicar of St Matthew’s, as saying: “There is a great tradition in the Eastern Church of cracking jokes at Easter. Laughing proclaims that despite the realities of suffering and death, the power of life, love and liberty is stronger. The tenacity of the human spirit is God given, and will not be overcome by the forces of oppression.”