Q-and-A: What Do You Think of the 42-Foot Faux-Marble Jesus?

A friend recently asked me what I thought of the 42-foot fiberglass Jesus statue that sits near a church building on I-75 in Monroe, Ohio, not far from Cincinnati. The statue, which was shipped in thirteen foot chunks from an artist's studio in Florida, is something you can't miss if you're driving along the Interstate.

I had to be honest with my friend: I don't like it.

But I have to admit with equal honesty that my reasons for disliking the statue may be completely wrong-headed. I might be a snob. I’ll let you be the judge.

The first reason I dislike it is, frankly, a matter of personal taste. To me, the thing is kitsch, a land-of-the-giants equivalent of a velvet Elvis painting. This enormous statue, painted to look like marble (covering up what one reporter described as its actual "buttery" exterior), seems to trivialize Jesus more than it glorifies Him.

I glean from news articles that the church’s intention for erecting the statue is to evoke awe. In a way, it does. But to me it’s the kind of awe one feels while driving down the Las Vegas strip. It’s the awe that says, “I can’t believe anyone would actually build that!”

A second reason for my distaste is related to the first. It’s that such excess, whether it’s fine art or junk, can put people off.

As a Christian, my greatest desire is for everybody to enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know what a difference he makes in my own life and that He loves all people and wants to spend eternity with them. I am a “John 3:16-Christian.” By that, I mean that down to the tips of my toes, I’m committed to letting others know what Jesus says in that famous passage of the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

But if church buildings are seen as places of expensive and outsized displays of wealth (and seeming wastefulness), will those who need to experience Jesus in their life ever pay attention to us when we share the good news that’s in John 3:16?

This past Summer, my mother-in-law was able to take my wife on a European tour. It was a great trip and my wife loved it. At one point, she visited the Vatican, seat of the Roman Catholic Church where so much wonderful art is displayed. My wife was an Art major at Ohio State and is herself a talented artist. So, I was certain that the Vatican tour had been a highlight of her trip.

“How was that?” I asked her. “To tell you the truth,” she told me, “it turned me off. It was beautiful. But I kept wondering how many people could have been reached with the story of Jesus or, how many hungry people could have been fed with the money spent to buy and maintain this place?”

If a committed Christian asks these questions while touring the Vatican, with its undeniable artistic treasures that have inspired awe in God for centuries, what do you suppose agnostics, atheists, and skeptics think when they speed along I-75 and see an enormous plastic Jesus?

But, not everybody is like me. (And that’s a good thing.) There may be people for whom the Jesus statue is just the nudge they need to turn their lives over to Christ, receive forgiveness of sin, and know that they have a relationship with God that lasts forever. If it does that, terrific!

But I also wonder if lots more folks aren’t turned away from the life-giving message of Jesus because of the statue? Or, do they view it as proof that the message of Jesus is irrelevant? I hope not.