He struck again.
I was visiting another church yesterday in my never-ending quest to find one that is Evangelical, but that doesn’t bow a knee to Trump. The sermon series title was, “Jesus is (blank).” Behind these bold printed words across the slide on the screen were multiple images of Jesus. Most of them were fairly common images that I have seen decorating fellowship halls and Sunday school rooms since I was a kid. Nevertheless, looking at all the different depictions of Jesus, with his long-flowing, wavy brown hair and light-colored eyes, I could only conclude that the pastor believed the answer to the sentence was: Jesus is white.
It occurred to me that one of the main fundamental issues within the White Evangelical Church in America is that they actually believe this is true. Not if you directly questioned them, perhaps, but in conceptualization. Not only is He white, but He likely has an American flag tattooed on his bicep, an NRA card in his back pocket, and a MAGA hat proudly worn on his head. And if that is the Jesus that the American Church is serving, then it makes sense that they would believe making him Lord of their lives means voting Republican, having at least two 22s in their gun closet, protesting abortion clinics, and hating gays and immigrants.
Who we serve matters. Knowing who we serve matters. Because Jesus is none of those things.
When Jesus is white, it is easy to believe we are called to a life of materialism and consumerism and national pride in the American way. It is easy to believe conservative politics and gun rights and July 4th fireworks are the Jesus-way. That as long as we vote red and support Trump (regardless of how un-Christlike he and his policies are), then we are doing “God’s will.”
Closely aligned to a white Jesus is an American gospel. A gospel that applies promises given to the nation of Israel under their covenant with God to our country. A gospel that assumes we are “special” and “blessed” because our nation was “built on Christian principles and values” and as long as we continue to adhere to our heritage, we will continue to be protected. It doesn’t seem to matter how many historians fact-check these claims and find them ringing false – the belief lives on and is deeply rooted in Evangelical churches.
However, Jesus is not this white nationalist American version that we’ve come up with. When we read the gospels, an entirely different picture comes to the forefront. The way of Jesus is a life of sacrifice, of laying oneself down and taking up our cross.
Jesus is not white. He is not American. Jesus was a Middle Eastern, Jewish man whose parents had to smuggle out of their home country as a toddler in order to save his life. Jesus, who said, “Lay down your sword,” and denied every opportunity to take power and control, cannot possibly be used as a mascot for violence if one reads the Gospels accurately.
Jesus loved people. All people. He died for all people. In fact, Jesus went out of His way to love those that the religious of His day had rejected or pushed out of society. We could even call the Samaritans the immigrants of His day, blamed for societal ills and not allowed to be a part of Jewish life. Jesus not only spoke to and engaged Samaritans but made them the hero of one of His parables. He flipped the cultural assumptions around.
Jesus embodied the social justice ethic of the Law found in the Old Testament. He breathed compassion for the least of these. But the most shocking thing about Jesus’ ministry is that He told us to do the same. From the Sermon on the Mount to Matthew 25, Jesus consistently commanded His followers to love others the way He loves us. He said we should be known by our love. He even said the whole of the Law was summed up in love.
Conservative churches and preachers write off this message as socialism or “woke nonsense,” but it’s very hard to get away from when you read Jesus’ actual words in the gospels for yourself.
This is not to say that we ignore when He says, Go and sin no more. Yes, Jesus calls us to lives of holiness, but that holiness is not to be lived in glass towers. It has to be lived among the people, in proximity to those suffering and in service to those most in need. Holiness is not mere right belief, but it is right action. Action that copies the way Jesus lived.
And Jesus loved.
It should also be noted that Jesus never went up to people and started the conversation off with, “Go and sin no more.” He loved first. Showed compassion first. Met their needs first. He didn’t tell them they had to stop doing this or that or come here legally. He merely loved on people because He is love.
Encounters with the love of Jesus change people. After an encounter, then Jesus told people, “Go and sin no more.” Then, when their hearts were changed. Not before.
We have this so backwards in our churches today. We push away people Jesus would have served. We condemn those He would have forgiven. We embrace nationalist priorities and racism over justice and compassion. And worst of all, we call it “Christian.”
The Church claims to believe that Jesus is God. Therefore, the words of Jesus are the words of God. Therefore, if we truly want to make Jesus Lord of our lives and call ourselves Christians, shouldn’t we be paying a bit more attention to what He said??
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