White Jesus

18No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten hSon, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
John 1: 18 NKJV

A friend of mine brought up a interesting point this week.  Why is Jesus always portrayed as a white man?  I'll admit that I was shocked, but I have to say that I agree with his statement.  For centuries, those who have related and printed various versions of the scriptures have depicted Christ as a white, dare I say european looking dude.  Yes, it is this version of Jesus which I grew up knowing.  White man, long hair and beard.  Now, I'll have to point out that this is not a race issue, but an issue of how it is we see Christ.  In my opinion, it is we who resemble Jesus.  After all, we were all created in the Fathers very image {Genesis 1:26}.  So, is the Father white?  Probably not.  However, we can rest assured that we resemble Him in all that we are.  One thing that I told my friend is that our focus should not be on that physical apprearance of Christ, but on who He is.  Who Is Jesus?  Well, Jesus is our Lord and Savior AND it is Jesus who lives in us today {Galations 2:20}.  This is who the man Jesus really is.  We can be assured that our heavenly Father will never catagorize any of His children according to their race, abilities or faults.  This is from man, not God.  So, who is it that fostered the image of the white Jesus?  Yep, we did, and still do.  I will say, that our image of a thirty something Jewish man from Nazareth may be a bit skewed.  But, that might not fit our narative, right?  Again, why is it that we are so stuck on that physical image of Christ?  That is not who He really is.  As much as our own bodies are but vessels which house the Spirit of Christ, so it was for the man Jesus as well.

12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 John 4: 12 - 15 NKJV

Even before my friend introduced his question, I had come to see Jesus not based upon His physical appearance but on who He really is.  As they say, everything else is but window dressing.  If some artist insists on depicting Christ as a white european, does that change at all who Christ is?  Not at all.  See, Jesus had to have a appearance to those He came into contact with as He was born unto us in the flesh.  I would suggest that had Jesus not come in the flesh that we would never have seen Him.  Indeed, it was His fleshly body which housed who He really was...His Spirit.  It is His same Spirit today which lives in us.  Jesus will never judge us according to our appearance, and we should never judge Him as such.  In fact, we do Him a supreme disservice by presenting Him as we would see Him.  Let us present Christ to others not as we see Him, but as who He really is.

~Scott~