Just Like Us All
A stained glass window in an old church in Rhode Island portrays Jesus and other New Testament figures as having dark skin.
Black Jesus? Maybe. Definitely the window depicts Jesus as a person of color – not as the White person he clearly is in other windows in the same church.
The window was discovered during renovation of the long-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren. The Greek Revival church building, which opened in 1830 and closed in 2010, was being converted into a home.
The two-panel window was commissioned in 1878 in memory of two women whose families had ties to the slave trade. One panel shows Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well. The other panel shows Jesus with Mary and Martha.
Experts know of no previous depictions of Jesus or the women as persons of color. Why this window is different from others in the church is also unknown. One clue may be timing. The window was commissioned right after the Compromise of 1877, which settled the disputed 1876 presidential election by ending Reconstruction and starting Jim Crow oppression of Black people.
Whatever the motivation for its creation, the window stands as a marvelous repudiation of efforts to whitewash Jesus. Jesus may not have been Black but no way was he White.
Why does it matter? Besides setting the historical record straight, it shuts down racist depictions of Jesus as Nordic, Germanic or Anglo Saxon. Blond hair, blue eyes and light-color skin are out. Black or dark brown hair, brown eyes and darker skin are in.
The distinction is partly about how a person identifies with Jesus. If you want to think of Jesus as White in your personal devotion, that’s probably OK. Just don’t imagine that this portrayal is historically accurate.
Yes, it’s important for you to know that Jesus is just like you in every way that counts. Yes, it’s also important to know that Jesus might not have been welcome in your circle of friends because he’s too “other.”
Jesus is both like you and not like you. He is human like you but also divine. He is like you as human yet he stands outside your social circle and beyond distinctions such as sex or race. If you are Christian, you devote your life to becoming more like Jesus. But trying to make Jesus more like you is simply idolatry.
Jesus is just like us all — all, without distinction.
