Son gifts religious parents a 'Jesus' portrait but with a hilarious twist and they had no idea

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 29, 2020. It has since been updated.

Christmas is a time for celebration and a holiday for the family. It's custom to exchange gifts with our loved ones during the holiday season but one person might have taken it a little too far by pranking his mother. Ryan, who hails from Utah, gifted a portrait of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, to his mother for Christmas, and told her it was Jesus. You can't blame the mother since McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars series does look a lot like Jesus' traditional portraits. His unsuspecting mother thanked him for the portrait and immediately found a nice spot on the wall to hang the picture. His religious mother hadn't seen Star Wars so she readily assumed it was Jesus Christ. Ryan revealed to Insider that his parents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were not really into movies. His mother may have seen him watching Stars Wars during his younger days but they never really watched the film in its entirety and didn't have any idea about the characters or the plot. Ryan also shared the video of the moment on YouTube, which has garnered more than 3.2K likes. 

Ryan also shared an image of the portrait hanging on his parents' wall, on Reddit. He wrote, "I've made a huge mistake. Mom loves her Jesus Christmas present and I’m not sure how to get out of this thing alive when she figures out." Having grown up in a house that had multiple Jesus portraits, Ryan was willing to risk the prank, hoping they didn't see the connection. He thought it was the perfect prank. Ryan said he got the idea after a Reddit user, u/kwar42, made a passing joke about Obi-Wan looking like Jesus Christ. "It stuck out to me as looking like a picture we had growing up of Jesus," said Ryan. "I kind of chased that thought to, how funny would it be if my parents didn't recognize who it was and actually hung it up on the wall. I have always tried to get away with things or pull some pranks on my family members and this seemed perfect."

The video shows his parents unwrapping the gift in their living room. Ryan's parents are slightly confused upon seeing the image but convince themselves it was Jesus indeed. The couple can be seen showing the portrait to other members of the family. Another member of the family can be seen hiding a sly smile. Ryan says he is still concerned about how his mother will react when she eventually finds out. They've already noticed something amiss about the picture. "He [Ryan's dad] said that this morning they walked past it and my mother said something along the lines of 'there is something off about that Jesus picture. I'm not totally sure I like it,'" said Ryan. His dad almost caught on to the prank, even remarking in passing that the Jesus portrait looked "almost like Obi-wan Kenobi." Thankfully, for Ryan, they didn't dwell on it. Ryan's dad assumed it was just a coincidence.

After the post made rounds on social media, Ryan finally confessed to his dad, who couldn't stop laughing. Ryan hasn't told his mother yet and he's hoping to keep it a secret for as long as possible. "As of now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, mom doesn't know. Still working on my exit plan there," said Ryan. The prank even made it to Conan O'Brien's show, where actor Ewan McGregor revealed he had indeed played Jesus in a movie, so you really can't blame the mother there. The prank is now over two years old but it still brings a smile to our faces every Christmas and here's hoping Ryan's mother never finds out.