Jesus Wasn't White

It has troubled me that European depictions of Jesus look, well, European. But did you know that African depictions of Jesus look African, and Asian depictions of Christ look Asian? Just Google it and you can see images of “Jesus” in any racial or cultural context you prefer.

For the record, the Bible doesn’t give us much to go on, which prophesied that he wouldn’t stand out from his peers: “…he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2) This implies that he was an average, brown-skinned Middle Eastern Jew.

Claims that he had wooly hair and bronze skin come from Revelation 1:14-15: “The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.” This was a description of Jesus’ glorified body, and if we follow this same line of thinking, the very next verse tells us he also had seven stars in his right hand, a sword in His mouth, and a face as bright as the sun!

The ambiguity of the Bible about Jesus’ appearance tells us one thing: it just wasn’t that important. But it had become very important to a young man named Rico, who gave Jesus’ racial identity as his main reason for abandoning the Christian faith. Rico had been following the teachings of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a religious group for whom race is extremely important. They have many splinter groups but generally believe that American Blacks are the true heirs of the lost tribes of Israel and thus God’s chosen people.

Much of God’s New Testament describes a new relationship between God and man, no longer based on one’s line of ancestry. There is debate among Christians as to the role the physical descendants of Abraham (Israel) will have in future events, but one thing is certain: What is of utmost importance is not what Jesus looked like, but who He is in relation to God, and who we are in relation to Him.

The church in Galatia was struggling with the question of whether Jewish Christians in their midst should continue with their Jewish practices, and whether they had special privileges because of their physical ancestry. Paul wrote that “those who have faith are children of Abraham” – not those who claim physical descent. He summed up a long passage of explanation by writing “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3)

It still troubles me when European images of Christ are imposed on people of other cultures. It troubles me that something like this is a stumbling block for someone like Rico, who pointed to it, probably more so as an easy illustration, as the reason he has abandoned Christianity. The Bible may indicate it simply is not that important, but unfortunately, the depiction of Jesus by an historically dominant culture has turned it into something the Bible never meant it to be.