He Brought Me Out

This image was shared on Facebook this morning by a gay acquaintance of mine.  I suspect that he passed it along for reasons other than piety, though he has shared other Christian memes and neo-pagan ones as well.  But I think it's the homoerotic subtext of the picture that got him: the hunky guy in jeans and lavender t-shirt, showing a bit of midriff, being gripped from behind by a two strong male hands, and Jesus' hooded face bending forward toward his neck ... Excuse me, I think I need to have a lie-down now, I'll be right back.

... That's better!  I admit that when I first saw the image I didn't notice that the fellow in front is holding a big mallet and two spikes. The friend who shared the meme got it from a Christian Facebook group, which invited people to "LIKE if JESUS carries YOU through tough times!"  I believe the picture was originally about something else, like Jesus' forgiveness of sinners even though they would crucify him, but then so much Christian imagery contains sadomasochistic elements, as well as unintentionally erotic (not to mention vampiric, as here) overtones.  An old boyfriend and I used to chuckle over the hymn "He Brought Me Out" in his family's Methodist hymnal, which contained other amusing double entendres as well.  Still, it's the innocent kinkiness of a lot of Christian imagery that I find most intriguing.