Taking Down Statues of Jesus

In the last few weeks, several people have begun to expand the call to remove statues from Confederate icons to all kinds of other people.

I am tempted to comment here on the concerns that many had at first – the slippery slope argument: “once the statues start coming down, unless there is a plan, where does it end?”  It turns out that this was a good question to be asking, at least…

But I won’t give into the temptation any more than that…

In the last few weeks, hundreds of protests (and also many riots) have been demonstrating around the country. As an aspect of this movement, statues and memorials of many prominent historical figures have been the source of contention. Among the damaged, removed, destroyed or defaced  have been Christopher Columbus, George Washington, A Texas Ranger, Ponce de Leon, Abigail Adams, possibly Abraham Lincoln, and many more, in addition to dozens of Confederacy Statues and Memorials (which I have already offered thoughts about).

Perhaps most intriguing was the damage done to the memorial for the 54^th Massachusetts is most telling for part of our conversation here.   The 54^th was one of the first African American regiment in the Civil War.  They fought heroically and began to unravel many of myths of the superiority of whites.  Their famous discipline, courage, and honor flew in the face of what many whites thought were actual limitations of racist whites.

(https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/502492-list-statues-toppled-vandalized-removed-protests,https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/06/03/16-statues-memorials-damaged,https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/black-lives-matter-protesters-graffiti-abraham-lincoln-statue-in-london )

Why would a protest group – even rioters – in support of black rights vandalize such a monument?   I assume the answer is that they didn’t know who the 54^th Massachusetts was.

Often, the truth is a good antidote to confusion and pretty much the only solution to ignorance.  When it comes time to make a big decision, it is a good thing to know the truth.

In fact, in situations like this, when confusion, error and outright lies about history, politics, media and all of the rest are so common, knowing the truth is even more important.   Lacking the truth, believing lies and even just giving credence to old lies leads to all kinds of problems.

Once, after I had taught a correct theology of “Race” to a local ministry hub, I had an African American man comment “Until today, I thought I had been a part of the white man’s religion.”  Fortunately, the correct biblical understanding makes it clear that wherever he had gotten that idea, it was error.

Christianity is certainly NOT the white man’s religion.  In fact, if it were to be connected to a “race”, it would obviously be a Jewish religion (literally the root of the Christian faith; see Isaiah 11:1, Romans 11:11-24).

In fact, if my understanding of Acts 8,9 & 10 is correct, the Ethiopian was converted BEFORE the Roman.  Though I do not think the order listed in these chapters are the important factor, in an interesting biblical way, Christianity was an African religion prior to it being a Western one!

Why am I talking about this?

Because today we finally saw the calls for the removal of statues of Jesus.  It is important that, in particular the ones being targeted by the activists are the ones that portray Jesus as a “white European.”

Now, several times in sermons and online, I have mocked the inaccuracy of presenting Jesus as looking like a good Scotsman from his birth…

During His time on Earth, “…having been born in the likeness of man. And being found in human form…” Jesus almost certainly didn’t look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, during His time on Earth,  it is also likely that Jesus didn’t look like this:

Both sets of portraits carry their own beauty, and I have affection for both them, but neither is likely to be historically very correct… Because the ethnicity of Jesus isn’t, wasn’t, and never has seriously ever been, a debate.  In fact, if we could travel back in time and look for Him amongst the Jerusalem crowds in the first century, you better look for someone more along the lines of:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, lived in the Jewish community, and hid easily in Jewish crowds; He probably looked Jewish!

Did early European Christians not know this?  I am sure they did.  Maybe they thought Jewish people generally looked for European?  Is that even possible?  I cannot fathom it. I imagine the artists who paint or depict Jesus’ of African ethnicity know it too.  I do not know why they did it.  Were some trying to make themselves feel better, in their anti-Semitism?  Probably.  Where they wanting to sell their paintings to someone who wanted Jesus to look more European.  Possibly.  However, I have another, more optimistic interpretation that I at least HOPE is true.

They want(ed) to identify Jesus with themselves… or themselves with Jesus.

In the midst of the ignoble motivations, I think this is a noble one.  Clumsy, ethnocentric, but perhaps noble.

Jesus came to experience life fully as a human being, though He was fully God.  In fact, it is an important fact that Jesus did so (Philippians 2) and that in doing so, He could pay the price of sin for mankind, understand our condition experientially, model proper human behavior and be tempted like us (Hebrews 2:17-18, John 13:13-35, I Peter 2:21, for examples).  The Christian faith absolutely depends on this fact.

So, it is natural that we would imagine Jesus as a little like ourselves.  From the artistic perspective, though I understand the danger, I do not think it is morally wrong to represent Jesus as looking like yourself – it is historical error, but not necessarily evil, depending on your motivation.

While on Earth, Jesus looked Jewish.  But the Divine Second Person of the Trinity transcends mere flesh.  He is man, but not merely man.  Consider the physical presence of Him in John’s book of Jesus’ Revelation.

^“12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on

 turning I saw seven golden lampstands, ¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. ¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, ¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. ¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”(Rev 1:12-16)

Not very European or African or even Jewish.  Divine.  His Divinity transcends concepts like nationality or sex or ethnicity.   Though He experienced life on Earth as a Jewish male, His full identity is not merely human.

So, please don’t worship an image of Jesus (not even the Revelation one).  Worship the Person of Jesus.

Please forgive people their errors from the past – good and bad intentions both.  This is His Way… the Way of His Kingdom.

What Jesus looked like just isn’t that important theologically.  I empathize with the offense at how the Person of Jesus was abused – how Christianity was abused – to support racism and plenty of other sins.  I assume that I am certainly more offended as a Christ follower than someone who isn’t.

I cannot know the motives of those who want to take down the “white” expressions of Jesus, though I can imagine good (an effort to shepherd gently certain people gently) or bad motives (certain to get into the spotlight, even if you have been shunned in the past).  But I can imagine that some might experience honest offense because of the lack of truth as to the Person of Jesus, the Christ, of Nazareth.

In my other articles on statues, I ask that we try to draw a line between “remembering” (proper for all historical figures – and the more sophisticated the better) and “honoring” (only proper for some historical figures).  I know this line is still imperfect and unclear, but it is one we can aim for – it gives us a common vocabulary.

In the case of Jesus, unlike any other human, He alone is a figure to be honored without taint.  All other humans have good traits and ugly ones.  That is what makes the conversation difficult… but now we also want to evaluate the character of the artist as well?

This is a mistake.  This mistake will lead, inevitably, to the destruction of all artistic expression.

I can see no almost value in taking down the appropriate statues of an honorable person regardless of the artist’s intentions.

He isn’t made a color by an artist.  He is who He is.  He is worth honoring.

Jesus is worthy of remembering and honoring… and unlike any other human, also worthy of blessing and glory and submission and worship.  Neither his social status nor his ethnicity is the good news.  He is the good news.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erik-raymond/must-jesus-human-divine/