bling bling

For my school's annual "International Parade," my students researched and did projects about Israel.  One group of boys wanted to make a poster about famous people from Israel.  They asked if they could include Jesus on their poster, and I said yes.  When I walked by to check on their work, I saw one boy drawing a picture of a guy with saggy pants and thick chain necklaces with big dollar signs hanging from them.  The other person he had drawn was popping a wheelie in a wheelchair.  I scolded him for being off task, and reminded him he was supposed to be making a poster of Jesus and other famous people from Israelis.  Here's an approximate transcript of our conversation:

Me:  You're supposed to be making a poster for our class project!
Student:  But I am, Miss!  This is Jesus and his friend.
Me:  ???  What do you mean?  They don't look like people from Jesus's time at all.
Student:  ???  But I read in the Bible that Jesus healed people who were sick and hurt.  And Jesus talked about faith making you rich.  That's why he's wearing sick chains and his friend is cruising in his chair.
Me:  Hmmm, I can see what you're saying.  But I really don't think Jesus dressed like that.
Student:  So no bling bling Jesus?
Me:  No bling bling Jesus.

Ok, so it may not be historically accurate, but he was so earnest, and who am I to judge?  I've never seen Jesus or his friends in person, so maybe they did look like that.  My student did change his poster for the parade...but I kept the original drawings!