A Black Jesus?

I received an email last night from a student at St Paul Theological Seminary in Kansas City. This person is working on a thesis that asks the question, “How does the image of a white Jesus affect the Christology (understanding of Christ) held by members of the white church and how might an exploration of the Black Christ assist the white church in moving toward a more holistic image of Christ, so that worship in the white church offers a welcoming space to black brothers and sisters?” Wow- pretty heavy stuff. She wrote to me because she read my piece in the Lenten Devotional and wanted to ask me some questions.

First of all, I must have appeared much more knowledgeable in my article than I really am. I guess you don’t have to know all that much to talk about it, as long as you sound confident.

But seriously, why is it that when we see an image of Jesus in the skin of another ethnic group, we have this deep down reaction, as if an offense has taken place?

Some will say it is because the image misrepresents history. But I don’t know of anyone who actually thinks Jesus looked like a black guy from 1970’s Americana. To believe that is the issue is to argue against a claim that no one is really making.

So what is it? Well, it is probably a lot of things, but here some thoughts.

For the most part, I think at heart we feel that we are, whether white, black, Asian etc..., good. We are confident that God loves us. But we can't just think we are good and leave it at that. We actually think we (and by extension our culture) are good in contrast to something else- the other. On some deep level we believe that we are the 'civilized' culture, and that other cultures are the 'barbaric' cultures. We don't express it openly that way of course, but I believe it is there.

Add to that a subtle belief that God’s love is somehow limited, and suddenly we are in competition with the ‘other.’ If God, through some action, declares, “I love this one,” and that ‘one’ happens to be the other, then suddenly I feel threatened.

So how does this play into the color of Jesus skin? Well, if on a very deep level we believe 'our kind' is good and the 'other' is not as good, and if we feel like we are in competition for God’s love, then we have a real problem if God chose to come as the 'other' kind. If God chose to come in dark skin rather than light, it forces us, at some level, to re-evaluate what is good, and that may challenge much of what we base our life upon. It challenges our ideas that God’s love is limited, and challenges our ingrained views of the world, and justice. In some ways it is an attack on our very being.

Anyway, I was happy that this person wrote to me with her questions. I sure don’t have all the answers, but I think it is good to keep looking within, trying to clear away the crud and find my real, Christ centered self buried somewhere beneath the false self I create.