Originally written on December 13, 2013
I was watching a bit of CNN about an hour ago, and I saw they were debating the skin color of Santa, as well as Jesus. Santa and Jesus are often depicted as being white, whereas some African-Americans were saying they should be colored. They came to the conclusion that Santa can be whatever skin color you want him to be, but they were having a hard time with the skin color of Jesus.
Well, the one man on there said that He likely had darker, olive-shade skin, which is probably accurate. So where are we getting these depictions that Jesus is white? Well, historically, it's complicated. But from my personal point of view, Jesus being white in most depictions isn't bad - we're told that He is light, and after His resurrection, He was in His glorified body which probably looks incredibly bright.
Ultimately, the one man on the debate made a good point: Paul says that in Jesus, there is no Jew or Gentile, no Greek or Roman, because we're all one in Christ. We need to stop looking at the outward appearance and get to know people. We can't look at the hearts of man like God can, but we CAN want to get to know people and not let their outward appearance affect our love for them. A modern version of that verse might say: "There is no Jew nor Gentile, no black nor white, for we are all one in Jesus Christ."
Well, the one man on there said that He likely had darker, olive-shade skin, which is probably accurate. So where are we getting these depictions that Jesus is white? Well, historically, it's complicated. But from my personal point of view, Jesus being white in most depictions isn't bad - we're told that He is light, and after His resurrection, He was in His glorified body which probably looks incredibly bright.
Ultimately, the one man on the debate made a good point: Paul says that in Jesus, there is no Jew or Gentile, no Greek or Roman, because we're all one in Christ. We need to stop looking at the outward appearance and get to know people. We can't look at the hearts of man like God can, but we CAN want to get to know people and not let their outward appearance affect our love for them. A modern version of that verse might say: "There is no Jew nor Gentile, no black nor white, for we are all one in Jesus Christ."
