WEDNESDAY'S WORD - ETHNOCENTRIC - Sadell Bradley - 3/2/2021

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD ETHNOCENTRIC 3/2/2021 "People don't contest that I'm British as a black man, but they do contest that I'm English. Too many people are going back to an ethnocentric idea of what English means." -David Lammy Politician TONIGHT! 7:00 PM FB LIVE The Warehouse OTR YouTube @warehouseOTR I was in a discussion about the ways in which Jesus has been ethnically depicted across the world over the centuries. In movies, on TV, and in paintings, folks have chosen to make Jesus in their own image. One colleague stated that the well-known picture of a Caucasian Jesus that used to be found in the homes and on the church fans of African-American families across the US was created by someone from their denomination. European Jesus. Latino Jesus. Chinese Jesus, etc. In America, we see what I call Brad Pitt Jesus, a good-looking actor-type with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Somehow in the movies Jesus always has a British accent. ETHNOCENTRIC means evaluating other peoples cultures according to the standards of one's own culture; characterized by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior. An argument was put forth that the Godhead made us all in their own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), so everyone ought to have the right to illustrate Jesus in their own ethnicity. My first impulse was, NO! so I asked the question, "Why can't we all just be ok with the fact that Jesus was a Middle Eastern Jewish man?" Then we can use anthropology, biblical accounts, and technology to depict him as a Jewish man from the Middle East, including probable olive or darker skin. He wasn't Brad Pitt-like. Isaiah told us, "...He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him." (Isa. 53:2b) LOOKOUT! YOUR ETHNOCENTRICITY IS SHOWING. When Jesus was born, the wise men asked king Herod, "Where is He that is born king of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2). Herod was so threatened by this little Jewish baby, that he had all of the children in his kingdom under two years old killed. (Matt. 2:16) Jesus was circumcised, and sat among the teachers in the Temple courts. (Luke 2:27;41) He told the Canaanite woman, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." (Matt. 15:24) Even when Jesus was on trial before His crucifixion, Pontius Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.” (Matt 27:11) In God's sovereignty, He made a great nation from Abram. Israel was not previously an ethnicity nor a religion. God chose them to be His own, and He sent His only begotten Son through that Jewish lineage. What are we saying about how we view God's choice when we cloud Jesus' identity with our ethnocentricity? Could it possibly be a matter of prejudice to not affirm that Jesus, in His humanity, was Jewish?