It is officially Christmas season and with it the debate about Jesus' race.
The reason for the Old Testament admonition against “graven images” … is that it leads to the worship of false Gods. God understands this about the human condition. Further … in our “fallen state” we are inclined to ascribe our own attributes (sometimes even our own limitations) to God. I call it “God in a box.” A box constructed by and through our own limited understanding of the nature and power of God despite the fact that He tells us who He is His Word (the Bible). The discussion of how he looked realizes God’s concern as the temporal becomes the focus and the spiritual falls into the background.
Historically, many of the artistic depictions of Jesus are predicated upon descriptions of those who have believed to have been visited by visions of him … and there is a reference to his appearance in The New Testament Book of Revelation. We do know that Jesus was a Jew and that when the Romans came for him he had to be identified from among those with whom he stood in the Garden at Gethsemane. One would logically conclude that he shared those characteristics of those whom he stood among. Clearly, not Anglo Saxon.
The Torah identifies Jews as a separate race. Semites. Other anthropological / sociological sources maintain that Jews are racially white ethnically Semitic Caucasians. Is it truly a distinction with a difference? Understand, racial classification has no basis in biology. My point here is, that it is narcissism not racism that is at the root of the “problem.” We tend to see “things” … including people … and ascribe attributes to them through the twisted prism of our own perspective. People are “offended” at the contradiction because at the bottom of “their truth” … is “them.” Consequently, it is taken personally because they have made it personal. From my perspective, contemporary portrayals have not been overwhelmingly Anglo Saxon. But, given that I am Irish/Italian … my perspective may be different than yours. For me … I think it is difficult to parse physical characteristics and arrive at an accurate racial or ethnic attribution.
My secondary point is that we need to stop seeking validation through our commonality … particularly where appearance is the underlying criteria. The love and salvation provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is available to everyone notwithstanding race or ethnicity. His purpose was not to make us feel better about ourselves because we are “like” Him … but to provide each of us the opportunity for salvation found in His blood sacrifice … because we are loved by Him.