Icon #67 Jesus

The most iconic death.

YIKES!  How the hell to I write this one?  I mean I can't really argue that it's not the most iconic death, either fictional or, you know, real, depending on your standpoint, but from the side of the fence that I sit this is not going to be an easy post to write.

2000 years ago a man was nailed to a cross and died.  This must have happened thousands of times during the time of the Roman's supremacy.  So why did the death of Jesus become such a compelling story for so many millions of people?

Well Jesus said that he was the son of God, which had got everyone into a bit of a lather.  To say the least.  When someone declares things like that today people just assume they're a bit mental and lock them up, but in deepest Nazareth Jesus found twelve people who were completely convinced and the rest is history.  Christianity was born.  Brilliant.

You're probably starting to get a sense of where I sit with this...

But as a kid, before I started thinking about it all a bit more, I found the tale a compelling one.  You know the story right?  I don't need to tell it here?  Good.  It's still a tale that is stuck inside most of our heads, right up until we die.  Before I got swung around to atheism by the death of my own father I can remember thinking that the Jews had a much better take on the whole thing.  Jesus as a profit, rather than the Son of God.  I liked that better, it just seemed to make more sense to me at about eleven.

But anyway, I digress.

His death and subsequent resurrection (really?) sparked the start of a religion that has dominated much of the planet for an incredibly long time.  He is hugely iconic.  His death on the cross turning that symbol into one of the most iconic images on the planet.  That, whatever your belief, is completely undeniable.  People look for his image everywhere.  Searching tonight on Google for the picture at the start of this post I found one of him on the skin of a banana and another on a slice of toast.  There was even one on an MRI scan of a woman's spine.  You don't get that with Elvis and John Lennon.

Tonight's post is dedicated to (from twitter) @formulaic666,  @Davielegend, @Estella_Tres, @comedyfish, @KyeLani, @maverick99sback (and from facebook) Nicky B, Peter F, Mini and Fran C.

Apologies if any of the above offended.