The Transgendered Jesus

Inside the chapel of the World Council of Churches center in Geneva, there exists a large, beautifully detailed mosaic of the baptism of Jesus. It is done in the Eastern rite style; the colors are intermingled with gold pieces. As I stood to examine the handiwork, I realized something about this full-length representation of the Christ, transparent through the waist-deep water, angels circling overhead:

Not only did this Jesus have the traditional beard and long hair, he also had a vulva.

It occurred to me that perhaps in the detail that it may have been too difficult to create an ‘anatomically-correct’ male figure. However, the tiles are detailed in their shadows to create folds of skin between the legs. I then thought that perhaps the artist felt it too indiscreet to create a Jesus with a penis. However, the artist could have easily raised the line of the blue water streaming past to cover this spot, or even added white tiles to create a loincloth. The artist did neither. The artist could have made the rest of his body look uber-masculine to make up for this absence of male genitalia. But no, this Jesus looks actually a little soft, perhaps even ‘delicate.’

I do not know what the artist actually had in mind, but I know that I like this mosaic. First, as a woman, I know I find it hard to feel close to a god represented primarily in male imagery. Despite searches for more inclusive language in the most recent generation of our faith, I am still painfully aware that I am a little less imago Dei. For God to look a little feminine as well as a little masculine, seems to communicate that God is more than one or the other, and open to both, in ways we the church on earth have failed to be.

As such, I have a second reason for liking this mosaic. Even if unconsciously, it seems to speak hope into a future when we as the body of Christ can accept our transgendered brothers and sisters as one of us, equal with us. Does the day have to be so far off when we realize those of God’s creation that do not fit so neatly into our binary categories may also be good, and called to minister to others? And not just in a few Christian denominations, but all?

For a moment, I worried that if I pointed this out, some outraged party might do harm to this work of art, or have it taken out of the assembly. I hope not. Instead, I hope that here in this one place, a center that tries to work toward inclusion and reconciliation even in its own brokenness, the fullness of this symbolism can be embraced and reach to the far corners of the earth.