Details From Incidents and Innocence

jesus smile

Detail from: The Last Laugh, Incidents and Innocence

Why is Jesus laughing? First I should I explain why Jesus is in this series. Christianity has provided the world with an established iconography, as well as ideology, that believers and non-believers alike are familiar with. We have an understanding about how Jesus looked based on thousands of depictions. Most pictures portray Jesus as suffering--after all, that’s basically the point of Christianity. For me the story of Christ, and the crucifixion, isn’t about suffering per se, but rather about the triumph of the good, love, and the meek, over the forces of malevolence. I pictured Christ, alone in the dark, in his final moments on the cross with a big smile. What could be a stronger statement of good over evil than Christ getting the last laugh? There in lies a message that transcends religion.