In my growing up years there was a picture hanging in our church of a black Jesus. It seemed natural to me. I always thought of Jesus as a man of color. He certainly wasn’t white. Strangely, though, for many, Jesus was white: in skin, beliefs, and behavior. It’s a sad tendency of broken humans to squeeze God’s image into ours, rather than the reverse.
I have witnessed quite a few Facebook posts lately that have oozed with bitterness toward the white man’s gospel. Several have expressed hatred of the white man’s Bible. While there may be some misled ideas as to the origins of the Bible, the sentiments are legitimate nonetheless. The horrific events that many of my friends have witnessed and/or experienced throughout their lifetimes are not simply due to misunderstandings or misinterpretations of the Bible, though the white man’s gospel is often riddled with manipulating, self-righteous, discriminatory, and even hate-filled interpretations. No, it goes beyond interpretations. My friends have read some of the texts within the Bible that are simply not representative of the person of Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings.
There . . . I said it. Knowing that some readers will stop at this point because I have issues with some of the texts between the bindings of the Bible, I must trudge on. I am not willing to slough off such passages, or attempt to provide eloquent academic and exegetical explanations, hoping my friends will forgive such words and keep on loving my white gospel. Some of the words are just not Jesus.
It should be no surprise to you that the Biblical approach to slavery is one source of such bitterness. My friends cannot tolerate reading Paul’s words in Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, and Titus where he instructs masters on how to treat their slaves. They ask, “Do you really expect me to believe this book?” In one post, a friend expressed hatred for the old hymn, “Amazing Grace,” because John Newton, the writer of the song, continued as a slave trader after his amazingconversion.
Somewhere down the long list of problematic issues is a condescending self-righteousness that seems to accompany many versions of the white gospel: even some well-intentioned versions. I have witnessed the white gospel saying, “Well, you know those people . . . they just don’t get it.” One white friend of mine rebuked me on Facebook by saying, “Didn’t you notice the ethnicity behind that comment?” And, whatBiblical texts support these positions?
I can’t write such a post without referencing the white gospel that slimes its way out of Washington these days. It doesn’t even come close to resembling Jesus. Lord, have mercy on us!
So where does this leave us? With Jesus. He said it quite simply: love God and love humankind [Mark 12:29-31]. LOVE! ALL HUMANKIND . . . It’s as simple as that. And that, my friends, is the Jesus Gospel, not the white man’s gospel.
-Sam Augsburger
