Jesus in living color

The following is what I wrote for my churches' January newsletter:

            Maybe some of you followed the controversy sparked last month about Santa Claus’s race, following Fox’s Megyn Kelly’s comment that "Santa just is white,” that this, like Jesus being white, is a a “verifiable fact.” Her insistence received such critical push-back from other news media and late night comedy shows, that she brought it up again to defend herself, explaining that she was only saying these things in jest.

            I’m not so worried about Santa’s race. But her comments about Jesus being a white man do cause me some concern, because how we see Jesus says a lot about our faith, and a lot about how we understand God. Historically speaking, the fact that Jesus lived in first century Palestine and spoke Aramaic suggests he was more likely brown than white. But at the end of the day, even this doesn’t really matter so much to me. 

            There is a lovely carol by Alfred Burt called, “Some Children See Him.” The lyrics say, “Some children see him lily white with tresses soft and fair… Some children see him bronzed and brown with dark and heavy hair… Some children see him almond-eyed with skin of yellow hue… Some children see him dark as they, and ah! They love him too.” (Click here to see several depictions of Jesus from around the world.)

            What is most helpful to me about this beautiful text is the recognition that many people see Jesus many ways, and none of those ways are any better or worse, or more or less true than another. Sometimes, to see God made manifest as a person who looks sort of like me helps me feel closer to God, and helps me want to live a more godly life.

But I also wonder: what would happen if I tried to see Christ through the eyes of some of those other children? What if Christ didn’t look like me, with fair skin and fine, brown hair? How would that change or expand my understanding of God? How would my view of God’s children, my neighbors, change if I imagined that Christ looked like them?

As we begin a new year, it is natural to have newness on the mind – what new practices you will take on, what new insights you will seek, what new start you would like  to make in your life. I challenge you also to seek this newness: what new way can you see God this year? What new expression of Christ can you seek?

            Our God is inconceivably big and mysterious, and cannot possibly be contained in our human imagination. But we can certainly try, by looking for God in everyone and everything. May 2014 be for you a year of blessing and surprise, as you seek to encounter God in new and startling ways.

African nativity

Nativity by Chinese artist He Qi

Julia Codesido (Mexico)

Mexican beaded nativity