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Mr. Wednesday: "You've got your White, Jesuit-style Jesus, your Black African Jesus, your Mexican Jesus, and your swarthy Greek Jesus."
Shadow: "That's a lot of Jesus."
Mr. Wednesday: "Well there's a lot of need for Jesus, so there is a lot of Jesus."

Head Full of Snow

Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. He was resurrected on Ostara’s feast day.

Background[]

Jesus has always been generous in sharing the Easter holiday with the ancient goddess. But the overly empathetic Son of God would be crushed to know that Ostara harbors some deeply buried resentment over the issue.[1]

"A Murder of Gods"[]

Mexican Jesus

Mr. Ibis writes a Coming to America story about a coyote leading a group of people across the US-Mexico border. They arrive at the Rio Grande river and wait for nightfall to cross. A woman leads the group in prayer before they attempt the crossing. The coyote warns them that the water is deep and if they can't swim, then they should remain behind. She leads them into the water while one man lingers behind, entering last. The group reaches the other side and one gives thanks to the Lord. The last man flounders in the water and begins to drown. Someone grabs his hand and pulls him up. As he crawls ashore, he looks back and sees Jesus walking on water. An engine revs and the shoreline is lit up by clearance lights on the top of off-road trucks. The coyote yells for everyone to get back in the water just as she is shot dead by one of the border militia. The immigrants are fired upon and murdered by men holding rosaries and guns with Thy kingdom come written on the barrel and loaded with Vulcan ammo. Jesus raises his arms to stop the slaughtering and they shoot him, too. He lays dead on the ground, a blood stain forming over his heart, his hand shot through.

"Come to Jesus"[]

Jesus Prime

When Shadow and Wednesday visit Ostara's home on Easter Sunday, one of the many Jesus figures (Jesus Prime) stops next to Shadow and says hello. Wednesday tells Shadow that "believing is seeing. Gods are real if you believe in them." Shadow looks around and sees another Jesus figure bleeding jelly beans from his stigmata and halos around the Madonna and child. Wednesday explains there is a Jesus Christ for every belief, branch, and denomination.

Wednesday tries swaying Ostara to his side but she insists she is doing fine without his help. Wednesday argues that millions might observe some of the rituals of Easter but not many actually speak her name in worship. Ostara does all the work of bringing spring, yet Jesus gets all the prayers. Jesus feels bad for stealing Ostara's day and Ostara tries to comfort him before she drags Wednesday and Shadow inside to speak in private.

Shadow finds his way to an indoor pool where Jesus Prime is sitting on top of the water. Shadow asks if he always believed, to which Jesus Prime replies that he 'is' belief. Shadow tells him that he doesn't know how to believe all the things he has seen and that perhaps everything he has experienced in the world of gods has just been a vivid dream, but that itself would be hard to believe. Jesus replies that it doesn't matter if Shadow believes if any of this is real, he is still on a journey and can only travel the road his senses show him, and walk that road to the end.

Chapter Eight[]

Jacquel calls Jesus a "lucky son of a virgin", but mentions that a friend of his saw him hitchhiking in Afghanistan, so it all depends on where you are. Jacquel also reveals to Shadow that Christmas isn't actually his birthday, but the birthday of Mithras.

Chapter Eleven[]

In San Francisco, Wednesday and Shadow meet up with Easter where she is having an extravagant picnic in a park. She leaves behind her picnic free to feed anyone in the park and they head to a coffee house as Wednesday tries to sway her to his side in the upcoming war. Wednesday reminds Easter that she is only doing well because of bunnies and eggs and Jesus.

Chapter Fifteen[]

While Shadow hangs on the World Tree, he becomes delirious. A bearded man with a baseball cap passes him a glass of sour wine as they walk through a Spanish-style building and converse. The man asks Shadow about the vigil on the tree, saying it can be cleansing and purifying and that Shadow is giving up his mortal existence to become a god. The stranger warns that there is a cost to being a god, whether old or new.

Physical appearance[]

Powers & Abilities[]

Jesus' powers are identical to those that are ascribed to him by Christian beliefs and holy texts: in the television series he is shown walking on water and turning water into wine (two miracles recorded in the New Testament).

One of Jesus defining traits in the television series is his ability to exist as multiple versions of himself simultaneously. Each version represents the way a culture or an ethny represents or believes in Jesus - as Mr. Wednesday explains to Shadow, there is a Jesus Christ for "every belief, branch and denomation". It is unclear if all of these incarnations are somewhat linked to each other, or exist as separate individuals. Just like the original Jesus Christ, they can be killed and come back to life (as the Mexican Jesus presence in Come to Jesus despite being killed in A Murder of Gods reveals), and all of the different versions share between them a halo around their head, taking the shape of a glowing aura of holy light. It is unknown if only supernatural beings can see this halo, or if all humans can see it.


Notes and trivia[]

  • Jesus plays into the appearance of Easter, a.k.a. Ostara, as the festival of Easter nowadays celebrates his resurrection.
  • Jesus is the son of the Christian God.
  • Despite Jesus being an Old God he is still doing quite well due to his status as a currently worshiped figure with millions of believers making prayers in his name. This is in stark contrast to many of his fellow Old Gods like Mr Wednesday and Bilquis who have lost the majority of their worship, and consequently, power.
  • Bryan Fuller and Michael Green explained that they "adore" Jesus, and thus wanted to represent him in the show as the kindest and nicest man there ever was. [2]
    • In addition, the Orishas are also among the Old Gods who are kind and benevolent towards humans, rather than exploitative and selfish.

Gallery[]

Pictures

Note: The pictures are shown in episodic order. To see the order of the episodes, please visit the Episode guide.


Video
American_Gods_-_Season_1,_Episode_6_Clip-_Gracias_-_STARZ

American Gods - Season 1, Episode 6 Clip- Gracias - STARZ

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References[]

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