It’s a new kind of Jesus for the postmodern generation. Not the Jesus of Sunday School pictures, softly lit and holding a lamb. Nor is it the looming crucifix of a Catholic church. It’s Jesus meets G.I. Joe – a 6-inch tall plastic, white robed toy: “with poseable arms and gliding action!” according to the box. I bought my Jesus action figure at my local Urban Outfitters store, next to the Kung Fu Hamster and the mullethead dolls.

The Jesus action figure is one of several Jesus related products sold by a Seattle-based company called Accoutrements – “outfitters of popular culture.” They also sell a Jesus bobblehead doll, but the action figure is their second best selling product – right behind the Tiki Mugs.

“These things fly off the shelves – we’re on our fourth shipment already,’’ said the urban outfitted girl at the counter when I bought my Jesus action figure.

“What about the Jesus T-shirts? Do they sell well?” I asked, referring to the stylish “Jesus is my homeboy” and “Jesus surfs without a board” shirts the company also sells.

”Oh yeah, we’re outta those they day after they arrive,” she said.

 What makes the Jesus-themed merchandise so hot right now? I asked the girl. Are people interested in religion?

“Nah, they just think it’s funny,’’ she said.

Outside the store I prowled, looking for some hip college-age students – the Urban Outfitters demographic – to ask what made the Jesus action figure such a hot item. I found a couple of trendy girls walking together and – bingo – one of them happened to have her own Jesus action figure in her dorm room.

“People think they’re funny,” she said with a shrug. “I guess I could see how it could be considered offensive.”

I hadn’t asked whether it was offensive, I said.

The back of the Jesus action figure box makes strides to avoid offense, treating the toy as if it’s an altruistic effort to educate people about the world’s religions. The box manages to give a description of Jesus that benignly says both everything and nothing: “For Muslims and some Jews, Jesus was a prophet. Buddhists say he was enlightened. Hindus call him an avatar (the incarnation of a deity in human form), and Christians hail him as the Son of God. So who was he?” The box defines Him mostly as an “extraordinary healer,” but – in true postmodern fashion – completely ignores the truth of who Jesus claimed to be.

In addition to the action figure, bobblehead doll, and the T-shirts, a few Internet sites are offering other pop culture portrayals of Jesus. The Jesus of the Week Web site (www.jesusoftheweek.com) presents artwork of Jesus for mockery on a week-by-week basis. Among the hundreds of samplings are pictures of several long-haired, bearded guys on the “Jesus Lives” page, and a page called “Lord of the Dance” that features a ceramic figure of Jesus, standing behind two little dancing ballerinas. The site’s commentary ranges from cheeky to caustic.

Another Web site, Jesus.com, features the pseudo-philosophical worldview of a guy who claims to look like Jesus (a picture of a guy who looks like Jesus is on the site, but who knows if it’s actually the guy who runs the site), who also happens to be using his looks to find the perfect mate. The site is largely a personal ad and soapbox for the hapless dude, whose only noteworthy merit seems to be that he markets himself as Jesus. But again, he makes a unique contribution to the cultural conversation about Jesus.

The items of evidence are in, and now I propose that Jesus – the most influential person in human history – has become an icon du jour of pop culture kitsch. He’s everywhere! And as the creators of cool come up with trendy new ways to sell Jesus, they’re contributing to a cultural conversation that reveals what people think of Him. It’s interesting that now, 2,000 years after Jesus walked the earth, people are still asking or answering the question: Who was Jesus? It’s the same question Jesus asked His disciples when he was alive.

“Who do people say I am?” He asked his disciples in Mark 8:27.

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

This is the question that God asks each of us: Who do we say Jesus is? Today’s postmodern generation is answering the question whether it knows it, or not. The makers of the Jesus action figure and T-shirts are defining Jesus – as a joke, as a gag gift, or as an expression of cool. The founders of the Jesus of the Week Web site are saying Jesus is to be mocked. The guy on Jesus.com is using his supposed resemblance to Jesus as a gimmick to get a date.

Sadly, all these perspectives of Jesus are contrary to who Jesus claimed to be. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, a claim that would make Him one with the eternal creator of the universe. If this claim is true, it would demand us to offer Him reverence and respect and complete obedience. The only other option is to deny Him.

But most of us don’t care who Jesus claimed to be. It’s a lot more comfortable and trendy to use Him for pop culture kicks. And postmodernism, with its pluralistic and relativistic definition of truth, makes this easy to do.

Postmodern truth is defined by individuals or by groups of like-minded people. Thus, people don’t necessarily see an incongruity between Jesus’ claims of deity and turning Him into a gimmick. That’s because within the Urban Outfitters subculture, the Jesus products are defined as funny, or maybe a little edgy because they challenge Christianity, even though these definitions have nothing to do with the real Jesus. Unfortunately, people who make themselves the determiners of truth, or depend on the ever-changing consensus of their peers, will continue misunderstanding Jesus. Their lives will settle into an intellectual apathy that results in the “whatever” way of life: “Jesus is an action figure?” OK. “He’s a joke to be made fun of on Web sites?” All right. Yeah, whatever you say.

As Christians, we’re just as apt to be influenced by postmodern thought. Many of us making sure our definition of Jesus stays within our comfort zone, or within the current behavior of the Christian subculture. For instance, many Christian college students – and post-college – would say they strive for the following goals: get a stable job, make money, marry and achieve worldly success and happiness. There’s nothing wrong with these accomplishments, but if they’re the things a Christian is striving for, then he’s misunderstanding Jesus. Jesus didn’t emphasize any of these things. In fact, His job wasn’t stable, He was poor, He wasn’t married, He didn’t achieve worldly success and He suffered incredibly.

Other Christians pretend Jesus is some kind of talisman, a magic healer they ignore unless they have a test, know a sick friend, or want a girl to say yes to a date. Or they reduce following Jesus to a list of rules about what Christians do or don’t do (drinking, smoking, dancing and the like). It’s tempting to reduce faith to a list of dos and don’ts that supposedly define Christianity, but Jesus argued against this type of legalism. All of these things are examples of allowing Jesus, and his claims, to be defined by ourselves or by our Christian subculture.

So who did Jesus claim to be? The Bible – which is the best historical record we have of His life – says He claimed to be the Son of God and God all at the same time. He was perfect. He demanded absolute obedience from His followers. He was gracious, forgiving and loved unconditionally – and demanded His followers to the same. He was more than a “healer” as the action figure box purports. That makes it sound like His main concern was with our finite and weak bodies. His purpose was to come to earth as God in the flesh to heal the relationship between God and humanity. And His submission to God led him to die a brutal death, as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

To take the reality of Jesus and reduce him to a gimmick, a toy, a talisman, or a list of dos and don’ts, is a misunderstanding with potentially eternal consequences. The intellectual laziness of postmodernism makes it easy and comfortable, but it’s an outright denial of Jesus. In His love for us, God created us with the freedom to deny him, but the only other alternative is obedience. If we say we don’t want to do obey, that we want to wait until another day to be serious about our faith, then we’re denying Jesus. We’re pretending we can define Christ according to our level of commitment.

To obey Jesus, we need to do as He did – live in submission and relationship with God; be led by the Holy Spirit; and love people selflessly. As Jesus did, we should do according to God’s values, not those of the culture of the day. Obeying Jesus requires an accurate understanding of Him, based on His own words and not on popular culture. Then it demands a refusal to be lulled into intellectual laziness and disobedience by postmodern secular or religious culture.

The result is a life of sincere discipleship and freedom – far more fulfilling than a mere action figure can provide.