Why I'm Ok with a "Black" Jesus

If you were to close your eyes and imagine what Jesus looked like, my guess is that like most people, you would envision a white looking guy with a beard, a long skinny nose, and long flowing hair. Historically, that's how Jesus has looked in just about every painting, statue, and movie that we've ever seen.

Chances are, however, that you've never imagined Jesus Christ as a black man.

And there is good reason for that, of course. Historically speaking, Jesus Christ is a descendant of Abraham, and is of Jewish ancestory. Though we obviously have no photograph of Jesus, it is very likely that Jesus Christ looks a bit more like Jerry Seinfeld or Mel Brooks than he does Samuel L. Jackson or Will Smith.

But what if, for a moment, you imagined Jesus Christ as a black man? Or, what if somebody made a painting, sculpture, or movie in which Jesus Christ was depicted as black?

Would you be ok with that?

My guess is that the chances are, you would not. And you would cite the historical and Biblical reasons as to why such is the case. And for all those reasons, I would say you are right.

Except... however, you would also be wrong to say such on Biblical grounds.

Consider the following:

10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-- 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. ~ (Colossians 3:10-11; NASB)

In the above passage, the apostle Paul encourages us to see ourselves no longer according to the ways of thinking that govern the old creation. Instead, we need to see ourselves as part of a "new creation," in which we are given a "new self." And in our newly created self, we are no longer to find our identity in our racial, ethnic, or social makeup. For in the new creation that God is making, Jesus Christ transcends all these old distinctions, and obliterates them.

Indeed, the apostle Paul doesn't just teach that Christ transcends all of these things. Instead, Paul actually sees Jesus as becoming all these things. "Christ IS all, and IN all." (vs. 11) Thus, in the resurrection, Jesus Christ's identity is no longer merely that of a Jewish man. Rather, His identity is also bound up with the Greek man as well as the Jew, and all other manner of race of men.

Thus, theologically speaking, it would be correct to say that Jesus Christ is of Jewish ancestry. But, it would also be correct to say that Jesus Christ is also a white European, with blond hair, and blue eyes. And, it would also be correct to say that Jesus Christ is also a black man from Africa. And as such, I am perfectly ok with Jesus being depicted in artwork as any of the above. Jesus Christ is all, and is in all.

And in this Christmas season, if your nativity scene just happens to have Jesus as a white baby, a Chinese baby, or a black baby... then all is well. And this Sunday in worship, if you close your eyes and imagine Jesus looking like somebody born somewhere besides the land of Judea, then so be it.

Now, some of you might wonder why I've even bothered to write something like this short essay?

Well, with all the polarizing racial tension and divide our country has experienced in recent months, I thought something like this could be an important thing to share in somehow doing my part to promote healing regarding race relations in our country. For deep down inside, there is something of this old creation that beats in all of our hearts, that causes men to identify with their particular tribe or race. Contrary to the popular teaching of some, racism is not merely a taught behavior. It is something that is very much part of our fallen humanity, and is something we are born with.

The truth of the matter is, the racial tensions we experience grow out of our inability to identify with a race other than the one we naturally identify with. Ten out of ten times, we identify with the group we perceive to be most like us. Black and white people have tensions with one another, not merely because of histories in our nation that center around injustices, but because there is something of this old fallen man that we receive as the sons and daughters of Adam, that causes us to have our identity bound up in things that ultimately separate us and divide us from one another.

However, the new creation that God is making through Jesus Christ asks us to no longer identify ourselves with our white and black racial identities and heritages. In the new creation, we've made a break with our past, even as Jesus Christ has with His. Now, Jesus Christ not only identifies with all races of mankind, but having become all races Himself, He also asks us to participate with Him in this new identity as part of His new creation.

If you think of yourself as a black man, or a white man, you need to stop doing that. Instead, you need to start thinking of yourself as the one new man that is found in Christ Jesus. And as such, you can transcend the racial divide that is part of the old order, and you are freed to identify yourself with all men, of every race, tribe, nation, and tongue. Theologically speaking, our hope for racial reconciliation is to be found in the loving arms of the "black" Jesus... and the Jewish one, the white one, and the Chinese Jesus.

After all, Jesus Christ is ALL, and in ALL.

The Commercialization of Easter vs. Christmas

I tell the following short-story in order to make a greater cultural observation.  It's "cute" but I think it works just the same:

My wife has a massive sock collection.  Without actually counting, it is safe to say she has more socks than all the articles of clothing I have combined.  She has socks for just about every occasion and season.  For example, the 25 days leading up to Christmas, she has 25 different pairs of Christmas-themed socks that she wears!

(FYI: I find that my wife having such a massive collection of socks to be a very charming thing)

Looking to expand her sock collection in the weeks leading up to Easter, twice we ventured into Target to look for some Easter themed socks.  We did this shortly after St. Patrick's day, but struck out.  (Though oddly enough, in the clearance section we stumbled across a flask with a four-leaf clover on it.)  Disappointed, we vowed to return to Target shortly before Easter and look again, only to end up leaving empty handed after our second try.

Normally, finding seasonally appropriate themed socks for my wife at Target isn't usually a problem.  They usually carry socks for all sorts of seasons and holidays. Of course, Target had other Easter themed merchandise for sale.  However, browsing around the store, Easter themed products were quite minimal, especially if you compared it to other holidays, such as Christmas.

You may wonder, where am I going with all of this?  What cultural observation can be gleaned from the fact that Target wasn't selling Easter themed socks?

My observation is simple.  People tend to spend money on things they find valuable.  Our hearts and our wallets are deeply connected.  Knowing this, retailers often market a lot of merchandise to us that we don't really need, but we find ourselves wanting, if for nothing more than sentimental reasons alone.  And if it is for nothing more than sentimental reasons alone that we buy their merchandise, it still is a reflection of something we consider valuable to us.  Enough so that we are willing to part with our hard earned money in order to obtain the object of our affections.

Of all the holidays, Easter is supposed to be by and far the most important celebration on the Christian calendar.  As Christians, we are supposed to value the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ  above all things.  Yet when it comes to comes to the overt commercialization of our holidays, Christmas wins the day.

There are probably numerous reasons for this.

However, I cannot help but feel that one of the reasons that Christmas is the most cherished holiday on our calendar, and why Easter comes in a distant second or third place, has to ultimately do with something going on in our hearts.  If we spend money on things we find valuable to us, and we find ourselves spending very little on Easter, perhaps it is because there is something about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ that simply doesn't lodge very deeply within our hearts.

It has long been my observation that the importance of the death AND resurrection of Jesus Christ has increasingly taken a back seat place in our faith.  The fact that Jesus died on the cross is something proclaimed by many.  However, the importance of the greatest miracle that has ever happened in all the world, that Jesus Christ was raised to life after being dead for three days, this has become something that we simply tag on to the end of things like "the sinners prayer."  In many gospel presentations that you hear, you will hear very little to nothing at all about Jesus Christ being raised from the dead.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has become a mere apostrophe in our preaching.  It's relegated as a tag-line or side-bar in our story telling.  Yet as the apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans, our very salvation depends on us confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord AND believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead.

For all the altar calls, public declarations of faith, and personal testimonies I've heard and seen  over the years, I cannot for the life of me recall very many stories that I've heard where somebody acknowledges that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, let alone make it something that they've truly taken to heart, and was an instrumental part of their conversion.

At best, Christ's continued existence is turned into a vague and disembodied ghost like state, instead of Him being treated as a man who was actually killed and brought back to life.  Being that our "born again" experience hinges on us believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the depths of our hearts, perhaps our actual conversions are not as high as some of our numbers indicate.

As a result of our faith not being centered around the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and our hearts latching onto the significance of this event, our celebration of Easter is mediocre at best.  We find very little value in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and because we find very little value in it, there has been less commercialization around the Easter holiday as a whole in our culture.

In actuality, our celebration of Easter should be the greatest celebration of all, for it is truly something worth celebrating.  We should deck the halls, sing carols, hang lights, and shoot off fireworks as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

(p.s. If anybody from the Target Corporation should read this blog post, will you be sure to stock your stores in Charlotte, North Carolina with Easter themed socks next year?)

The Art of Returning Christmas Gifts

Christmas has come and gone, and people have received a lot of gifts. Some gifts were great, and others... not so great. Of the "not so great" gift pile, some of those gifts will be shelved somewhere mostly out of sight, just in case the gift giver pays you a visit (family politics!) Other gifts will be "re-gifted." And yet many more brave souls will boldly stand in a customer service line, and attempt to return or exchange the undesired gifts.

If you are one of the millions who will attempt to return or exchange a gift sometime in the next few weeks, I would like to offer some friendly wisdom. Take this from a guy who spent about 10 years of his life in some form of retail:

1. Remember, you aren't the only person on planet Earth doing this.

Duh. But really, remember this as you stand in a long line of people, you aren't the only person there. While you may blissfully attempt to tune out everything around you, don't become one of "those people" who act like they are the only person standing in line. For heavens sake, don't do silly things like bring your screaming soggy-bottomed baby to stand in line with you. And make sure you have as many of your receipts as possible ready to give to the customer service rep. And when it is your turn, don't tell a long story about why you are returning your items. 99 percent of the time, the reason you are returning your item simply won't matter.

2. Shop before you get in line:

Unless you want to stand in the world's longest line twice, and really have nothing better to do with your time, whenever you are exchanging an item, shop for the items you want ahead of time and bring them with you to the counter. Such will make everything go much more smoothly for you, the people in line next to you, and it will actually help make the world go round. Think about it... you don't want to stand in line twice!

3. Your customer service reps are people too:

Even though you are the customer, and the customer is always right... when dealing with your friendly customer service rep, NEVER get mad at them, yell at them, or otherwise act like an idiot. I don't care how entitled, white, or middle-class you are. I don't care how smart you are, or how great your job is. I don't care how dumb or irrating the person behind the desk seems to be as they mindlessly invoke x, y, and z policy over you, and why you can't exchange your gift. Customer service people are your fellow sinners, created in the image of God. They may or may not treat you well (after all, you are the millionth person they've seen, they are 2 hours past due for a break, they've been standing on their feet all day, and the store manager isn't helping them out any). Speak kindly and gently to them. Remember, you get more bees with honey, and a gentle answer turns away wrath. Don't threaten to take your business elsewhere. Don't demand to speak to a manager (they are usually just going to side with the customer service rep anyway.) Simply look to treat others the way you would want to be treated, like Jesus said. You wouldn't want somebody acting like an idiot yelling at you, would you?

4. Don't attempt to return an item without a receipt:

Unless you are returning clothes made by the Gap to the Gap, if you don't have a receipt for something, or a copy of the credit card the item was purchased with, save everybody and yourself the trouble of attempting to return the gift. It's almost never going to happen and defies common sense. Think about it... if you owned a retail store and somebody claimed to have purchased an item at your store, but didn't have any means whatsoever of proving it, would you take the financial risk of returning or exchanging that item without a receipt? Then don't be so shocked if you can't do it.

5. Be thankful:

We can't always get what we want, even when we attempt to exchange our gifts. Therefore, learn to be thankful for what you received, even if what you received is the wrong size, shape, or color. Be thankful for whatever you have received, because there are a lot of people out there this Christmas who didn't receive anything. Find joy and learn to delight in whatever you get, because it'll change your heart in the process. And a changed heart is the greatest of gifts.