Why I’m glad Jesus was not black…or white! (Guest Post)
Hi Dojo readers,
In my last post, I raised the issue of the importance of recognizing the cultures in which the Bible was given…and how current attempts at filmmaking often fall woefully short of recognizing this basic fact.
Some people have said that criticizing the depiction of culture/race in the current History Channel miniseries “The Bible” is unhelpful, uncharitable, or just plain “theological nitpicking”.
But to me, this shows a lack of awareness regarding just how important and sacred the issue of culture is in God’s eyes…and how foundational it is in understanding the overall story of the Bible.
After the creation of humanity in His image, God no longer spoke into a cultural vacuum. He interacted with REAL people IN HISTORY, and that means He interacted with REAL HISTORICAL cultures. There are hundreds of pages of Scripture devoted to delineating and preserving one particular culture into which He reached–that of the Hebrew slaves descended from Abraham and brought out of captivity by Moses to become the HISTORICAL nation of Israel. They had their own culture, their own way of life, their own way of worship, their own way of everything–which is one of the main emphases of Torah!
So when filmmakers ignore, downplay, or reject the culture of the Hebrew people, it distorts the message of the Gospel to a remarkable degree.
As I said in yesterday’s post, it’s not just about “race.” Hebrew culture transcended race and there were many racial backgrounds found within the Covenant people of God:
- Caleb (a Kenezite, and part of the “mixed multitude” that came out of Egypt)
- Moses’ first and second wives (Zipporah, a Midianite, and his unnamed 2nd wife, who was a Cushite/Ethiopian)
- Urijah (a Hittite)
But they were all part of Torah-observant Israel and thus Hebrew culture.
And so, of course, was the Messiah, Yeshuah (Jesus)!
This matters because there has always been a tendency among Christians to ignore, downplay, or outright distort the Hebrew nature of Scripture. My good friend Dr. Michael Brown points out a particularly glaring example with the New Testament book of Jacob (which we erroneously call “James”).
And the producers of “The Bible” have (whether intentionally or unintentionally) continued to perpetuate this distortion (again, see yesterday’s post for examples).
In discussing this tendency with my friend Olatunde Howard, I asked him to share his thoughts on the subject with Dojo readers.
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Here is what he wrote…
Why I’m glad Jesus was not Black!
(Or White, or Asian, or a Woman)
Olatunde Howard
In America we value liberty and independent identity. Self-expression. Freedom of expression. These all assume distinctions, and we fight to be who we are.
Yet for some reason, when it comes to Jesus, some of us feel we can just make him whatever we want him to be. But if we could, He wouldn’t be our Savior, the God Man, Fully Divine, Fully Human.
When Moses asked God His Name, the divine response was:
“I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14)
Indeed, as far as God’s identity goes, “It is what it is.” Unlike the shape shifting nature of God presented in the book, “The Shack,” God’s nature and characteristics are what they are, unchangeable, though spiritual.
This includes the Lord Jesus Christ and His identity, spirit, soul, AND BODY!
God made a promise to a man named Abraham:
“Through your seed, all nations will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
The blessing to all nations was not going to be through anyone else’s descendant.
The prophet Isaiah said,
“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel—God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)
A son, not a daughter.
Jesus was not and is not an ethnic or gender shape shifter.
Though we have no pictures of Him, we know He was Hebrew, and that Hebrews of Jesus’ day had certain distinct characteristics physically and culturally. The way Jesus would have worn his hair, for example, would fit the Law of Moses, which He kept.
Certain spiritual/cultural assumptions would have been held by Him. For example, many say things like, “Jesus never mentioned anything about homosexuality.” If this is true, it would be because of His ASSUMPTIONS about homosexuality, held by the Jewish community of His day, expressed in the Law of Moses. He would have NO REAL NEED to elaborate on this in His day and culture.
I’m glad Jesus was who He was, and is who He is, because if He wasn’t, I’d have no REAL Savior. As it is written:
“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
I believe this is true NOW, even of His ethnic, cultural, and historical heritage, as it is also written,
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” (Revelation 22:16)
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I believe Olatunde is expressing something that many times we Christians (especially white/European/Western Christians) gloss over in our desire to be “colorblind”. But while Scripture does recognize that in Jesus our ethnic/cultural/gender distinctions are all brought up to the same level of worth and value (Galatians 3:28, Romans 10:12, etc.), they still remain and, in fact, are to be CELEBRATED as a reflection of the God who made and redeemed them:
And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation…” (Revelation 5:9)
“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9-10)
The fact that so many of us see European/non-Middle-Eastern actors in the lead roles in Bible film adaptations (no matter how good they may be) as “normal” is, Olatunde and I would argue, an indication of just how little we appreciate the importance of the historical cultures of the Bible’s story.
May we one day be comfortable with portrayals of Jesus and other Biblical figures that actually match what we know about their cultural and ethnicity.
JM
Categories: Arts and Culture, Blog, Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Political/Social issues