Last December, the week before Christmas, Elsie and I were remotely watching our grandson’s Christmas concert. On a sidebar chat I noticed a blurb by Aisha who was critical of the concert. I came to the defense of the concert and thus started an interesting chat room conversation. It turns out Aisha is a 14 year old young man who happens to be black. I’m a 75 year old who happens to be white. In the course of our back and forth, I mentioned that this concert was a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Aisha shot back that Jesus was black and he could prove it. I asked how he intended to do that since the Bible never mentions Jesus’ skin color. He declared that scholars have found black tribes of Jews in the holy land and Jesus was from one of those tribes. I replied that was news to me. I gave him my best shot at explaining why Jesus was not black or white. I’m not sure he bought it but we did sign off amiably.

So, was Jesus black or white? Most of the pictures of Jesus show him as being white but most of the pictures were drawn by white European artists who identified with a white Jesus. Black Christians want to identify with a black Jesus. Perhaps it’s human nature to want to identify Jesus with our own race.

How does the Bible describe Jesus? The trouble is that there are only vague descriptions of Jesus’s appearance in the Bible. In Isaiah 52:14, the prophet predicts that the Messiah’s appearance would be “marred more than any man” but that is how He looked on the cross. Isaiah 53:2 says, “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we would be attracted to Him.” Based on this prophecy, the Messiah would not stand out from the crowd in His appearance. We see this fulfilled in numerous New Testament passages. Jesus is able to pass through the crowd and escape from His adversaries which indicates He was not unusually tall so that He stood out in a crowd (Luke 4:28-30, John 8:59, 10:39). There is only one self-description of Jesus in the Bible. He says of Himself, “I am gentle and humble in heart. . . (Matthew 11:29).

Okay, Irv, what’s your reasoning for why Jesus wasn’t white or black? I know I’m out on a limb but here is my thinking. I believe Jesus’ skin color was the typical color of Middle Eastern men of His day. He was tan-colored which permits every race to identify with Him. No specific race can claim Him. He’s a universal Savior and all can identify with Him.

For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him (regardless of race) should not perish but have everlasting life,

Irv