In the 2006 comedy film, Talladega Nights, the actor Will Ferrell plays a successful stock car driver named Ricky Bobby. Offering a meal prayer prior to a big race, Ricky raises eyebrows by praying to “eight-pound, six-ounce” Baby Jesus with his “golden fleece diapers.” Family members struggle with Ricky’s audacity. In his wife’s words, “It’s off-putting to pray to a baby!” His father-in-law reminds Ricky that “He [Jesus] was a man!” The point of the scene is to parody the superficial religiosity and prosperity gospel that can infuse Christianity and sports culture in America. But I couldn’t help but recall Ricky Bobby’s audacity when reading today’s lectionary.

For although no mention is made of Baby Jesus, today’s readings very much challenge stock images of the divine Son of God. In imagery similar to Mark’s passion, the Jesus of Hebrews 5 “offers prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.” This Jesus is not calmly in control of everything, surveying the world from 10,000 feet. No, this Jesus is deeply immersed in the pain, suffering, and messiness of a world groaning for redemption, even as it crucifies him. Likewise, today’s gospel from Mark 2 challenges us to rethink conventional notions of holiness. For all of their passionate disagreements, John the Baptist and the Pharisees agreed that fasting was a non-negotiable marker of Jewish discipleship. Jesus reminds us that physical disciplines such as fasting should be done not for their own sake, but to bring us closer to the Bridegroom.

In sum, to get Jesus, we need a conversion of heart in how we see him. We need new wineskins. Whether or not we envision Jesus in golden-fleece diapers, let us never forget that the mystery of the Word Made Flesh challenges easy categorizations. For this God-man is both baby and divinely begotten Son, both obedient supplicant and eternal priest, both suffering Servant and source of eternal salvation.