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Give your children the real Jesus, not a cuddly one

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Jesus plushie toy. Photo: Shopee.SG.

I’ve discovered that you can buy a range of Jesus plush toys online. They’re designed for very small children to cuddle and play with.

And given that we prize cuteness over catechesis in the church in Australia today, I wasn’t surprised to see a Jesus plushie being raffled recently at a local Catholic youth event.

But I must ask: Has anyone actually thought this through?

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If you teach a small child that Jesus is their friend through a plush toy, does this make the child more or less likely to discard him as they grow up?

When you play with toys, they always do what you want. But in real life, I’ve noticed that Jesus doesn’t act like this.

I also thought of CS Lewis when he wrote about teddy bears—my toy Jesus plushie can also be “the Jesus who I can pull to pieces if I like.”

The more I think about it, the less cute I find it.

We know that in the old days there was a ton of bad religious art in our churches. Many of us have seen images of anaemic Jesus, sooky Jesus, and spooky Jesus.

A Jesus plushie will never die on the cross for love of you—a love so burning that he went through death to release his living heart into every consecrated host on the planet. Photo: Pexels.com.

We’re put off because we know that in reality, Jesus in his humanity was a grown, fit, strong working man in his 30s who taught with authority and drew people to him like a magnet.

So why have we now reduced him to a plump and cute little figure of tontine and polyester?

It’s hopeless to expect a child to know Jesus in anything more than a childish way if you give them a Jesus plushie to play with, invite to dolly tea parties, order around, chew on, lose—or tear to pieces if they like.

Jesus is not a toy. I’ll repeat that for those of you in the back: Jesus is not a toy.

I also see that not all Jesus plushies have nail marks on their hands and feet. But I suppose nail marks might lead to awkward conversations.

This makes me immediately want to suggest a range of accessories, like a plushie cross and plushie nails. Perhaps even a plushie crown of thorns.

And that’s what’s missing here, in the same way that it’s missing from so many bare crosses in churches and around people’s necks.

A Jesus plushie will never die on the cross for love of you—a love so burning that he went through death to release his living heart into every consecrated host on the planet.

A Jesus plushie won’t walk on water, haul souls back into dead bodies, drive demons into pigs, turn over tables in the Temple, and flog people.

Don’t give your kids Jesus plushies. Take the longer and harder road and give them something much more important and lasting. Photo: Pexels.com.

In Christianity, you can’t separate the person of Jesus from his astonishing mission of the cross and resurrection. It was kind of the point of the whole thing.

If you reduce Jesus—the second person of the Trinity—to the level of a stuffed toy, you strip him and his mission of everything that makes it matter.

Like I say, we outgrow our stuffed toys. And if young Catholic adults are buying into this nonsense on the ground of “cuteness,” then I’m even more worried about the future of the church.

If you want to spend time with Jesus in a more three-dimensional way, then it’s very easy.

Don’t buy a Jesus plushie. Go and find an open church and sit in front of the tabernacle.

Or crack open the scriptures and read any one of the gospels. The real Jesus will stand up and shout back at you from the very pages.

If your children want to spend time with the real Jesus, then take them to Sunday and even weekday Mass.

Teach them to go into open churches to say hello to Jesus in real life by doing this yourself.

Teach them the truth about Jesus. Explain to them: you will get to know him better as you grow up.

Jesus plushie
Jesus in the Eucharist. Photo: Pexels.com.

He doesn’t do what you want—and the day will come when you’ll thank him for this when you see how silly your choices were.

You don’t own him. He owns you, because he ransomed you from a terrible kidnapper.

He is, in short, not a tame lion. But he is bold, brave, magnificent, romantic, heroic and passionate.

He is our beginning and our end. He is all in all. He is enough.

Don’t give your kids Jesus plushies. Take the longer and harder road and give them something much more important and lasting.

Now that’s Catholic parenting.

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