“KFJ” (Kentucky Fried Jesus) 肯德基炸耶穌 – 127x97cm- Oil on Canvas, 2010
This painting symbolizes the mystery of the ‘historical’ Jesus Christ, which has been completely buried beneath church tradition. What is worshiped and taught and preached is not the Jesus that was, but the theology of spiritual values to which Jesus has been assigned a historical role.
In contemporary culture, meanwhile, Jesus has been commoditized. The new Jesus is palatable, tasty, deep-fried, but ultimately full of trans fats and msg. It is packaged and addicting and powerful, but less healthy than a simple bowl of veggies and rice.
Although powerful, bloody and disturbing – please note that Jesus is calmly giving a thumbs up sign; his right index finger doing a disco dance move. Christian tradition in the 4th century AD turned away from celebrating the resurrection of Christ and placed more emphasis on mourning his gruesome death, in an effort to increase feelings of guilt, sin, personal responsibility, and gratitude. It is forgotten, however, that Jesus spent an eternity in heaven both before and after this event. While God punishes sinners to an eternity of torture, Jesus’ torture was but a fleeting moment in his existence. Moreover, the fact that Jesus is considered as ‘fully God’ led many earlier believers to doubt whether he could suffer pain at all (or eat, drink or defecate).
In the Gnostic tradition, there is a story of how Jesus only appeared to have been crucified, or that he was laughing on the cross, or that someone else took his place. Although an important symbolic event, the idea of Jesus suffering, but then rising from the dead unharmed (and knowing before he died that he would be fine and come back) seriously pales in comparison to those bold brave few who suffered real torture, or gave their lives to save others – even when they weren’t planning to resurrect.
這幅畫象徵「歷史上」耶穌基督的謎。耶穌基督已經完全深埋於教堂的傳統裡了，如今所尊崇、教導、宣導並非過去的耶穌基督，而是他在歷史上所帶來的精神價值上之宗教信仰。
同時，耶穌在當代文化裡已經被商品化了。現在的耶穌美味可口、經油炸，卻充滿了油和味素。現在的耶穌經過包裝、吸引人、有影響力，卻比一碗簡單的蔬菜飯還要不營養。
儘管這是多麼的強大、血腥、引起恐慌，但請注意耶穌比了一個把手指伸出來的姿勢，相當冷靜。右手食指擺出跳迪斯可舞的動作。
西元前四世紀時，基督教傳統不再頌揚耶穌的復活，反而將注意力轉成為哀悼他的慘死，試圖加深罪惡感、原罪、個人責任、感激之情。然而，世人卻忘記了耶穌不管是在這事件發生前或發生後，都永恆活在天堂。上帝懲罰罪人受一輩子的折磨，耶穌的折磨卻是他活著的那一短暫時光。不只如此，將耶穌基督視為「全神」的想法導致許多早期的信徒提出懷疑，認為他是否真的禁得起受苦（或飲食、排泄）。
諾斯提教傳統中有幾種說法，認為耶穌是怎麼只有出現釘在十字架的那一幕、釘在十字架上時正在笑、或認為有人取代了他的位置。雖然耶穌受難是一起相當重要且有象徵性的事件，但在死後卻毫髮無傷的復活過來（而且是在耶穌死前就知道他會這樣），相較之下，有少數勇敢的人真正受到折磨、也有一些人為救他人而犧牲自己，耶穌受難就顯得不是那麼重要。
Oil on Canvas Surrealism Oil Painting by Derek Murphy www.derekmurphyart.com
