Here’s your pre-Christmas riddle: What do marshmallow snowmen, sugar cookie icing, and the modern American Jesus have in common? Answer: They’re all soft, overly-sweet, and white! But regarding the REAL Jesus, nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus white? Of course not! Although men turned Israel into a battlefield, it was God’s bridge for the gospel’s rapid deployment to Asia, Africa, and Europe. Jesus would have looked like any other medium-toned Middle Easterner.
Christianity is not the white man’s religion. It began in Asia, then went to Africa, and finally to Europe, before spanning the globe. More Christians live in China now than in all of Europe.
Jesus soft? He grew up in the rigors of a carpenter shop, His hands calloused with manual labor. Following His twelfth birthday, He walked three times each year from Galilee to Jerusalem and back, probably covering 12,000 miles on just those trips. Jesus was no softie.
Have you heard the term doppelgänger? It refers to an unrelated look-alike. Well, “meekness” and “weakness” are verbal doppelgängers. Look-alikes, they’re totally unrelated. Meekness is not weakness; it’s real strength under control.
The meek and lowly Jesus could hold thousands spellbound with His words. He could still a storm with one command. He could return a person to life with a simple prayer. Roman legions had no power over Him (John 19:11); angel hosts awaited His command (Matthew 26:53); and He could expel demons with just one finger (Luke 11:20)!
As for Jesus being overly-sweet, He never sugar-coated anything. Using the title “I Am,” by which God introduced Himself to Israel, He said to the Jews of His day, “If you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) To the people of every other religion or philosophy, He declares, “I Am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
To you He emphatically states: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36) Anything too sweet for your taste there? Hardly.
People shouldn’t come to Jesus for tinsel and sugar plums. But if they come with broken hearts and inflamed consciences, looking for hope and forgiveness, they’ll find it there in Him.
At this time of year, we embrace those soulful words spoken above Bethlehem’s hills: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14) Unfortunately, for more than 2,000 years there has been little peace on the planet. But then, what would you expect when we rejected and murdered the Prince of Peace? And yet…
In spite of trouble all around, we still can have peace in our hearts. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” but “in Me you may have peace,” (John 16:33) because He “made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:20)
Simply by transferring your trust to Him, you can then say, “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” (Romans 5:1, NLT)
If so, the straight-talking, swarthy-skinned, soul-saving Jesus will hand you the best Christmas possible!
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Sunday, December 18, 2022