Brown Jesus

I'm not sure exactly when it was that I realized Jesus wasn't white, with shampoo-commercial hair and blue eyes. After all, that's the way he looked in our picture Bibles and nativity sets and in the well-known painting that hung in my grandma's kitchen. 

I'm not sure exactly when it was that I realized Jesus wasn't white, but it came into especially sharp relief when I traveled to the Holy Land in 2012 with a group from the seminary. We were in Bethlehem - yes, that Bethlehem - worshiping with the congregation of Christmas Lutheran Church. All around us were Palestinian people with dark hair and skin that was various shades of brown, reading and singing a Lutheran liturgy in Arabic. The stained glass windows of the church, however, were full of pale blonde disciples who looked not like the actual inhabitants of the city where Jesus was born, but instead like the German missionaries who started the congregation in 1854.

"Nativity scene at Parliament House" Brisbane, Australia - Art in the Christian Tradition

There's so much to unpack about racism, whiteness, and the church. I think an important way to start is simply to notice the things around us with new eyes and ears. What messages are conveyed - intentionally or unintentionally - through our choices of artwork and liturgy and theology? Whose voices and stories are lifted up? What would it be like to depict Jesus with (historically accurate) Brown skin and Middle-Eastern features? Might it help us better see the face of Jesus in the faces of Black and Brown people? Might it help us begin to disentangle whiteness from our concept of what it means to be holy, valued, and pleasing to God? What happens if God doesn't look like me? If this makes you uncomfortable, can you sit with the discomfort and examine it?

It matters that Jesus was born with brown skin to an unwed mother in a backwater town. It matters that God chose to announce the good news of great joy to shepherds and foreign astrologers - people on the margins, with no power or privilege. How might we see and hear this story in a new way? How might we share that God coming to dwell with us really is good news of great joy for all the people?


Bonus resources: 

  • A beautiful collection of music and reflections for Advent and Christmas from musicians at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Twin Cities (MN).
  • I'm a member of our synod's Authentic Diversity and Justice team, and we recently started a monthly email newsletter which you can read here.

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