Black Jesus, Then and Now

This is the cover of the latest issue of Broadview, a magazine which looks at contemporary faith and justice issues as well as covering news from the United Church of Canada. This issue is post Black History Month, but during every month of the year we can be reflecting on Black history, culture and faith. The title, as you can see, is Black Jesus: Why Racial Representation Matters. Three Black writers offer unique perspectives on the portrayal of Jesus as a Black person. While the historical Jesus wasn't Black, in all likelihood, he was certainly brown rather than the white guy so many of us saw as we grew up. 

During my years in ministry I would offer Exploring Your Faith courses and Bible Study sessions with a focus on Jesus, and how we perceived him. I would post images of Jesus around the room and get participants to walk around and choose which Jesus spoke to them. There was always an Asian Jesus, a Black Jesus, a Latino Jesus, and one who looked as though he was actually from the Middle East.  Lots of people chose the safe white guy, including a surprising number of teens who felt attached to the moony white Jesus who had been in the hallway for eons. 

One elderly bible study member who was white and was born in the area was immediately drawn to the Black Jesus. In her thirties she had lived in an African nation, serving as a nurse through the United Church. She married a Black man, and while the marriage didn't last, her two beloved children identified as Black 

Jesus was a Mediterranean peasant Jew. He is also the universal Christ, so why not portray him in a way in which people can identify, regardless of their race and colour? 

The stained glass image of Christ below is a reminder of oppression and liberation, created during the Civil Rights movement to commemorate four Black girls murdered in their church on a Sunday morning

This John Petts stained-glass window was donated to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham by the people of Wales after the church was bombed in 1963. (Solomon Crenshaw, For The Birmingham Times)