Back in Primary school, Art lessons used to be so much fun. That was the time our creative juices went into overdrive. It was also a time for self expression. I remember how I used to enjoy using wax crayons to colour my drawings. There was quite a collection of beautiful colours and I could use any colour in whatever way I wanted.

I learnt that I could even mix the colours to come out with yet another interesting colour. For instance, do you know that when you mix blue and yellow you come up with green?  And if you mix red and yellow you get orange? Talk about creative licence!  Just thinking about it now, the smell of wax comes back to me. The good thing about crayons was that even if they broke into smaller pieces, you could not just throw them away. Those broken pieces could still colour.

This brings me to the religion debate that has been raging since time immemorial. It is the question of Jesus’ race and appearance. What colour was Jesus? I grew up seeing the picture of a gentle Jesus with blue eyes, smooth white skin, a beard and flowing hair. The picture was in our school books and any other literature on religion. That depiction of Jesus got so singed onto my mind in such a way that I can never imagine him being any other colour, even now. Colonisation of the mind? Maybe! That is a topic for another day.

The image of Jesus has been depicted in a multitude of ways by various schools of thought. There is also a school of thought which purports that Jesus was black. Let me categorically state that I am no expert on issues of religion and therefore do not possess the capacity to wade too deep into that territory. What I am putting down are just my thoughts and feelings  regarding issues of spirituality.

Tolerance

During our time in High School, no student of English Literature could have gone through the syllabus without studying Shakespeare. There are such powerful lessons embedded in the poetry and prose of his plays. The play, Merchant of Venice has some interesting life lessons. It is a worthwhile read but be warned that Shakespearean language can be heavy going. The one scene I will never forget is the impassioned speech made by Shylock. He is Jewish moneylender who is demanding a pound of flesh in lieu of the money he loaned out. The borrower is failing to pay him back. This speech comes from a background where Shylock was living in a Christian city where Jews were despised.

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means, warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

Merchant of Venice Act III Scene 1

This speech now holds a different meaning to me than when I was  a student. Must be the experience and maturity I guess! When I talk fairness, when I talk tolerance and when I talk social justice, I can not help but bring think about this speech. It highlights the fact that we are all human. If all of us are said to be created in the image or likeness of God, who then can claim superiority over the other? The fact that the same red blood flows in our veins shows we are all equal in His eyes. Talk of blood, when it becomes a matter of life and death and we are desperately in need of blood transfusion, do we choose blood according to the colour of our skin, religion, gender or social status?

Yet it is part of human nature to want to point differences in ourselves so that we can gain power or advantage over those we deem inferior. The more we outline those differences, the more fragmented we become and the more the conflicts.

We have all been singled out for God’s favour in one way or another. It is only when we put up artificial barriers like skin colour, ethnicity, gender, religion and economic status that we tell each other were are worlds apart.  We are now battling with the Coronavirus pandemic and no human being  has been singled out for immunity. That in itself shows how vulnerable we all are.

Jesus, a mouse?

“Dinner for Schmucks” (2010), is an American comedy film where two men from different backgrounds strike an unlikely friendship. One is a successful businessman and the other is an eccentric whose hobby is to collect dead mice, take them to a taxidermist and then arrange them into artwork he calls “Mousterpieces”. What really caught my attention and made me laugh at the same time was his depiction of The Last Supper. The arrangement had mice sitting at a table enjoying a meal. One could never miss the similarities to The Last Supper. I got so fascinated by the depiction of Jesus. There he was, a mouse complete in his white robe and blue sash, a dark beard and flowing hair! It was a masterpiece, pardon me a mousterpiece indeed!

The eccentric chose to see Jesus and his disciples as mice. It made me wonder if any Christian watching this movie out there would really take offence and regard the part as blasphemous. I found it rather funny and chose to go as farther as to admire the artistic licence .

Yes, we can go on and debate about Jesus’s race. I wonder if ever we will reach a conclusion. As I mentioned earlier, the images of a white Jesus and even white God are what first hit my mind before I can consciously think otherwise. Truth be told, it takes so much effort for me to do that. Am forced to focus on Jesus’s skin colour instead of what He means to me as a Christian. I have realised that I am expending my spiritual energy in the wrong direction. Having chosen to go above and beyond the one colour that I have always known Jesus to be, I am now colour blind.To me Jesus is simply the universal spirit of love, kindness, tolerance, forgiveness and fairness. Yes, religion we can share but spirituality is a personal journey. No one can ever accompany you on that journey.

Spirituality does not come from religion. It comes from our soul. (Anthony D. Williams)

And so, if it gives strengthens your faith and spirit to paint Jesus black or whatever colour of your choice, go ahead. The important thing is that we should not be too fixated on that one colour. After all when God created us, He all gave us all these beautiful colours to paint our lives with.