Color of Jesus' skin not important!

4 May 2021

The color of Jesus’ skin continues to come up in debates, to include articles and meetings on racism and racial injustice, as if it has purpose in the discussion. The topic has become so bitter in some debates that there are groups who say images of Jesus should be taken down or removed from places of worship. Some churches already do not include images of Jesus in their church; for what? Because they are afraid they might offend someone?

If an image of Jesus—black, white, olive, Asian or Hispanic offends you, you may not understand the purpose of Jesus’ time on earth.

It was not about Jesus the human being.

It was about Jesus the Messenger. It was about Jesus who was crucified, died for our sins, and was resurrected so we would have the ability to confess our sin and have a path to God and salvation. It was about Jesus providing us with teachers of the Gospels so we all could receive the Holy Spirit. It was about His examples on how to love God and to love our neighbor by caring for the poor and the sick, and the sinners.

Debates and declarations concerning Jesus’ skin color not only serve no justification, but they should be rebuked, especially in Christian churches and conversations.

It is a fact that there is not a single living person that can tell us what the actual color of Jesus’ skin was when he was on earth 2000 years ago. We weren’t there.

It is a common assumption that since Jesus was from a Middle East country that he must have had a darker complexion (sometimes referred to as brown or olive) and dark hair, as one might see people from the Middle East commonly depicted on television or in pictures today. This association is extremely weak. First off, using television and magazine articles as evidence isn’t scientific documentation. Anyone who has spent time in the Middle East can verify that skin tone varies from country to country, from family to family, and from person to person, the same as anywhere in the world. One person may be much deeper toned, while the next is much lighter, perhaps even appearing Caucasian. I served in the Middle East for two years and can verify that latter statement as fact. Not to mention that there has been 2000 years of culture mixing since Jesus walked the earth.

Numerous scientific, cultural and Biblical research studies claim to know the color of Jesus’ skin. Each article identifies reputable research to validate its results, but yet, the results of each are different. Some state Jesus was black, others claim he had a Middle East olive skin tone, while others claim he was Caucasian. One article, which appeared reputable to me, stated that he was Caucasian with reddish hair. This was supposedly stated by someone who had lived during that time, seen Him, and documented it. Who is to say which articles are trustworthy or correct? They are all just opinions and speculations, and ineffectual ones at that.

I have scrutinized numerous articles on ‘visions of Jesus’ as documented by people all over the world. There are a few common themes that those people have described: His body is often shrouded in a bright white light. He is often wearing a brilliant white garment. But the one descriptive observance that is extremely rare to hear about is what color skin Jesus had.

I can tell you why. Skin color is the farthest thing from one’s mind when they come face-to-face with Jesus. I had a couple visions of Jesus, and I could not even guess at what his skin color was. It was absolutely not important.

It also is relevant to note that when one sees or communications with the divine through a vision, we generally communicate via our spirit; NOT with our flesh (brain and eyes).

I wrote this for two reasons. I feel it is inappropriate for Christians to use Jesus’ name or appearance in earthly political bickering and debate. I also feel it is absolutely unnecessary to know his skin color because our relationship with Him is through our spirit. Color is only skin deep and is meaningless. That said, I am unsure why people, who are trying to get rid of racial discrimination and injustices, would insist on giving our Savior, Jesus Christ, a skin color…just so people can be divided over it. Or worse, removing his image altogether just so it’s not offensive. Sounds like satan’s work to me.

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