Black Lives Matter #1 (Jesus’ Skin Color)
Does the race of Jesus matter? This is a question that many have gotten into before, and are left with a variety of answers. What do you think? I always jokingly end the conversation with "Go to a church with a bunch of paintings of white Jesus, and replace them with black Jesus, and you'll have your answer." But, let's think this through.
Two things:
1) How do Christians view Christ vs how they should?
2) How do non-Christians view Christ?
First, we'll talk about the Christians:
Jesus was (and IS) God, but He is also MAN. In most cases, how we view Christ as a man shapes how we view Him has God; it shouldn't, but it does. We all have to manage the stereotypes that we hold in our heads about certain people groups. It is very possible to project those stereotypes onto Jesus (The Son of GOD). White people can certainly relate more to a white Jesus than a black Jesus (or any other race for that matter). There are even black people who subconsciously look for a "white savior", and Jesus (white Jesus), can be that for them. This is only scratching the surface when talking about this issue, and how various people groups react to seeing the race of Jesus. Not to mention how kids start to form their opinions about Jesus, religion, the world, and different communities, as they consistently see Jesus in a certain way.
All the while there is this scripture Exodus 20: 4-6, the second commandment.
Now, as an artist, I view painting a picture of Jesus as merely art and not a breaking of the commandment, but it becomes a problem when we add paintings as such to our times of worship. Especially, these days, when we're in the midst of social evolution on these types of matters.
So, to recap:
We SHOULD view God as God, as light, and not box Him in by a human shell. There is actually scripture on that as well in 2 Cor. (find scripture).
We are still very much impacted by Jesus' portrayal in art, including impacted by His portrayed race.
(Not to mention that we KNOW Jesus was Jewish, hung out in the Middle East, and often walked from place to place in an abundance of sunlight.)
Next, we have to talk about how non-Christians view Christ. For the sake of this post, I've narrowed views down to these (as a teacher, as a character, as a fairy tale):
#1 - Teacher
At the very least, one (who does not believe that Jesus is God) should acknowledge that the Bible has some wisdom in it; this includes the words of Jesus Christ. But, the teachers of whom we allow to shape our lives hold more power for us when we can relate to them, and us relating to them starts with whether or not we look alike. I am not saying that this is the way it should be, but this is the way that it often is when deciding how much weight to give a person's ideas or knowledge. We won't accept knowledge from someone of whom we do not respect. Ex. If someone who is white is trying to pass out wisdom to a black person, even if that black person respects that white person for other reasons, they still have in the back of their mind, "Yeah, but this person is white.". Or if a man tries to give advice to a woman, even if that woman respects that man, and is receiving the advice from him (in part), there's still a "Yeah, but he's a man." in the back of her head. It's the "Yeah, but..." that COULD end up being a problem, in a variety of ways.
#2 - Character
There are certain people in human history who are real, but I don't have enough information about them to make them real to me. Like George Washington, I know he existed, but he's just a character to me. I'm not moved by the thought of him one way or the other (in general). Now, if you were to mention MLK Jr, I would feel a certain way immediately, due to his race, and what he has done for people who look like me. It doesn't even have to be someone who is no longer with us. Kanye West, is quite a character. I have little in common with Kanye (that I know of, because I do not know him). He's a musician, as am I. And he is black, as am I. Not much more than that can we connect on, other than the fact that I like his music. If he were to speak on his financial situation, I would not be able to relate. But, if he were to speak on an issue of race, it's a different story. Jesus is the same here. For some, they know he was an actual person, but there would have to be a specific convo on a topic of which that person can relate, for Jesus' race to matter to them.
#3 - Fairy Tale
Here it doesn't really matter what Jesus' race is, because any angst or complaints to a fictional character always fall on the one who created the character, and in this case, for that person, it would be the church. Though racial issues can definitely projected onto the Church as a result.
So, where does this leave us?
If they were to make Batman black, people would lose their minds. If they were to make Wonder Woman black, people would lose their minds. There are even black people who would lose their minds over such a thing, because it's different. We are naturally against change. We are used to our heroes being as they are, completely pure in the notion of how we see them. We are naturally frightened when our beliefs are threatened.
There is a deeper problems within religion of our beliefs never being challenged; of our methodology never being questioned. We take all such challenges as an attack on the religion/the God in which we believe, but what if it's simply a opposition towards us, not our gods?? Sometimes, we need to be challenged in order to sharpen our beliefs. People in power (mostly white people, and mostly men) use their power to suppress these challenges. They feel the same way that others feel when threatened, only they have the means to do something about it. Their power gives them a sense of entitlement; a sense of purpose to keep their joint ideals "sacred".
Does Jesus' race matter? I believe that it does, but it's debatable.
What's not debatable, is that at the top of the power structures of Christianity, there are white people, who have the power and sense of entitlement to keep THEIR Jesus white. In doing so, they protect their "culture". In doing so, they feel safe. In doing so, they remain in control, while minorities either have to accept the fact that they're on the outside (in delusional joy or in disdain - because deep down we know what time it is) or continue to challenge the notion of a Jesus who only fits one type of person, and be seen as a rebel.
Ironically and thankfully, Jesus, no matter what race that we may see Him as, is always read in the gospels as a rebel.