Jesus God Jews
Discuss and assess why theologians would say that "Jesus is Black". Are their arguments convincing?
Jesus has been an important personality in the history of this world. A religious leader baring all the qualities of a Prophet he was a man who had the capability to do anything. He lived for many years and Jesus is also known as the Jesus of Nazareth. The people who belong to the religion of Christianity have a strong faith in him. Jesus Christ had the ability to heal the people from whatever sickness they had. Many people in his life time came up to him to get healed. He was a Prophet who was crucified on the orders Sanhedrin and the priest named Caiaphas. However many questions arise about the race as to which the Jesus Christ belonged to. This article would further give an understanding about the origin of Jesus Christ and the race to which he belonged to.
In order to get a good understanding about the truth of the Jesus Christ one has to have perfect knowledge about the scriptures. These scriptures provide data which can help in determining the truth about Jesus Christ. Scriptures, customs and social background help people to put in their views about the Christ. They give a proper understanding about the environment in which Jesus was born. And if these scriptures are read closely they can have a link to the origin and the history of Jesus. According to different research and people Jesus Christ was a human being who belonged to the faction of Jews. However there are contradictory views on him belonging to the faction of Jews and of him being humane. Jesus Christ was a man who came in this world to accomplish the duties of God. He came in this world to fight for the people who were suffering and who were abandoned. Jesus Christ himself was not accepted in the society and suffered from different atrocities. In his time he preached about the true path of God and he even gave his life in the path of God. He fought for his way to freedom but as he was unaccepted in the society he was crucified till death. This happened when one of his apostles betrayed him as was predicted by him before. (Cones 1969, 2000)
While Jesus Christ has left his symbol for this humanity people still fight as to which race he belonged to. The Negro groups are the supporters of the fact that Jesus belonged to the race of black. According to the research done the bodies of Mary Magdalene and Martha have been found in a village where most of the population was Negro. And to further confirm this DNA tests took place which confirmed that the people of Magdella belonged to Negroes. The advocates have even related this to the Chapter 13:1 in Bible which states “Now there was in the church that was in Antioch certain prophets and teachers: as Barnabas and Simon that was called Niger..”. The word Niger is derived from early Roman, which later came to be known as ‘Nagra' in Latin. The exact meaning of the word Niger is black skinned and the word Negroes is derived from Niger. Negroes is still used for the people who are black. This chapter in the Bible illustrates that Jesus' close associates, disciples and relatives belonged to the race of Negroes. This made the researchers to go even deep in the subject and they began unearthing Judea. This was because Judea is mentioned in Matthew chapter 2 as the birthplace of the Jesus. As in the verse 2 it states “Where is he that is born king of the Jews”. The word ‘Jew' is derived from Judah who was the son of Jacob, twin brother of Esau, sons of Issac, son of Abraham, who was Asyerian from Asshur 10:6-14.Verse 11 further confirms that Asshur was the descendant from the sons of Hams which is known as burnt black. Cush is another city which is mentioned in the Bible and the Bible itself confirms that Cush is Ethiopia which is a country of Negroes even today (Green 1999). It also mentions Mizraim which is now also known as the ancient Egypt and Phut which is now famously known as Libya. And Libya in the olden times was ruled by a Negro named Sheshek. The researchers have gone far too ahead to even know that the oldest bones found on the earth are of Kenyapathicus and that too are found in the area of Kenya, Sudan etc. And if Bible is read carefully it would should that Noah was 500 years old and Noah had three sons who were named Shem, Ham and Japeth. People confuse as Noah having three different races of children which is not true as God pronounced Noah's generation as perfect. As in Genesis 6:9 it read “These are the generations of Noah”. And even in Hebrew it is confirmed that the genes of the generations of Noah were not mixed and were pure. Thus this shows that the generation of Noah was of the same race. Shem, Ham and Japeth belonged to the race of Negroes. And in Genesis chapter 10 it is mentioned that Japeth had off springs which later on mixed in to give Gentiles. These Gentiles are the people of Greek. Jesus was born to a clan of people named as Judah. Judah is a tribe which is even now famously known as the Negroes. To further confirm that Jesus belonged to the race of Negroes researchers give an example of a verse written in Matthew 24:9 which states that Jesus said you will be hated by all for my sake. And according to the Negroes they are now hated by all the nations. The word Niger is used in Acts 13:1. Matthew 13:55 states “Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren, James and Joses, and Simon and Judas?” This verse clearly illustrates Simon as the brother of Jesus Christ and Simon in the Book of Acts 13:1 is referred to as a Niger. Bible further clarifies the fact about the tribe of Judah belonging to the group of Negroes. As in Jeremia 14:2“Judah mourneth and the gates thereof languish; they are black until the ground and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.” The Bible further describes the Jesus Christ as a Negro according to the researchers. The Bible depicts him as a Negro, who has brass burnt skin and has hair of a lamb with wool. All these features are of a person belonging to Africa. The Bible clearly describes Jesus Christ in these words “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” The advocates of the fact that Jesus belonged to the Negro race defend their stance by describing the texture of hair of Jesus as that of an African. The words “white like wool” here describe the texture of the hair of Jesus. The Jesus Christ is also described as possessing a feet of burned brass which shows that his color was black. Burned brass is the amalgamation of zinc and copper. And when both these elements are burned together they produce a compound which is very dark. Similarly in Lamentations 5:10 it clearly affirms “….skin black live oven”. This verse in Lamentations is describing the tribe of Judah. Often the Christ is referred to by the declaration of Solomon in which Solomon openly declares, “I am Black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem (Sol, I, 5) (Cromhout 2007). The tribe to which the Jesus Christ belonged to was of a Negro ethnicity. And even the ancestors which are being related to the Jesus Christ in this article show that the Jesus belonged to a family of Blacks. Even the early images of Virgin Mary and infant Jesus show them with a black complexion. Even now the old churches in Italy have the pictures of Jesus and Mary which portray them as being black. The entire community of blacks relates itself to the Jesus Christ as the suffering which the Jesus Christ went through is almost the same the Negroes are going through in this world. Jesus Christ was a symbol of human suffering who faced all the matters bravely without caring about anybody. Even at times Jesus Christ was beaten up ill treated and misunderstood because at that time the community did not accept him as its own. The black see Jesus Christ as a personality who went through the same pain and anguish through which blacks went through. They compare their struggles to the struggles done by the Jesus Christ. However the author Cone competes “we have no basis to contend that His coming bestows upon us the courage and the wisdom to struggle against injustice and oppression.” The author describes about the people who follow the principles of Jesus. He tells that the people relate the Jesus with their lives and experience what Jesus experienced in his lifetime. Thus the author gives a brief overview about the Blacks and their experiences. The author tells that Blacks not even derive the ethnicity of the Jesus from the history but also from the oppressions the Blacks have faced like the Jesus. The principles of the Jesus Christ and the oppressions he faced in his lifetime have also helped the Blacks in the present life to strengthen their cause against the oppressions that take place against them. The experience of Jesus Christ helped them to struggle for righteousness even when the whole world was against them (Cones 1969). Their faith in the Jesus Christ helps them to be so strong in achieving their cause of justice. Cones further make's another assertion about the Jesus Christ and the Blacks by stating that the Blacks have encountered the Jesus Christ in real by facing the oppressions and fighting for their freedom. The Jesus Christ himself fought for the truth and against tyranny. He is “not only the Crucified and Risen Lord, but also the Lord of the future who is coming again to fully consummate the liberation already happening in our present.” Thus this leads to the conclusion that except for the facts that prove that Jesus was of black ethnicity the Blacks have derived from their personal experience that he was of a black ethnicity. Cone in another attempt compares both the Blacks and the Jews. He tells about the Jews as being chosen for the process of liberation and now in the present world the Blacks are selected through Jesus. (Kelley 2002)
Needless of the entire facts author James Cone supports the identity of the Jesus Christ for what he is. People respect the Jesus for his stature in the religion and not for his race. But still there are critics who make the ethnicity and the race of the Jesus Christ an issue. This issue is being addressed in almost every church in the world. Many archaeologists and researchers have come to the conclusion that Jesus belong to the tribe of Negroes and looked like a black man (Patton 1880). Even now there have been long debates on the race to which the Jesus belonged. The Blacks have gone through lot of oppressions and feel that Jesus is one of them. While the racists have made an issue out of this belief and have started hating the Blacks even more. Though still there is strong criticism from the critics about the ethnicity of the Jesus Christ, if the Bible and the facts are viewed it can be said that Jesus belonged to the race of Negroes and was black. Even till date the archaeologists are digging and the researchers, researching to find out an even clearer view on the ethnicity of the Jesus Christ.
Bibliography
Crossan, John Dominic. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. [San Francisco]: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.
White, Joseph L., and James H. Cones. Black Man Emerging: Facing the Past and Seizing a Future in America. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1999.
Green, Michael. Jesus: Who Was He? What Is He Like? What Has He Done for Me? Sisters, Or: Multnomah Publishers, 1999.
Patton, William. Jesus of Nazareth: Who Was He? and What Is He Now? New York: American Tract Society, 1880.
Hayes, D. L. "James Cone's Hermeneutic of Language and Black Theology." THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 61 (2000): 609-631.
Kelley, Shawn. Racializing Jesus: Race, Ideology, and the Formation of Modern Biblical Scholarship. Biblical limits. London: Routledge, 2002.
Cromhout, Markus. Jesus and Identity: Reconstructing Judean Ethnicity in Q. Matrix : the Bible in Mediterranean context, v.2. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2007.
Van Voorst, Robert E. Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Studying the historical Jesus. Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub, 2000.
Cone, James H. Black Theology and Black Power. New York: Seabury Press, 1969.
Cadman, S. Parkes, and N. C. Wyeth. The Parables of Jesus. New York: Testament Books, 1999.
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