Incarnation – Chris Linzey

There are many times when we have to go looking for bridges between Christ and culture – those stories that might be a natural lead in to steer a neutral conversation towards Christ.

Other times the stories hit you in the face.

Hard.

Sarah Silverman provided just such a story. Not too long ago she tweeted:

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Jesus was gender fluid!

If you’re like me and are not familiar with the phrase “gender-fluid,” here you go:

Gender fluid is a gender identity which refers to a gender which varies over time. A gender fluid person may at any time identify as male, female, neutrois, or any other non-binary identity, or some combination of identities.

Naturally it cause a bit of a stir among those who consider themselves Christians. Jesus was not gender-fluid by this definition. He was not someone who identified as a man at one time and then later identified as a woman (or rejected all gender labels).

Silverman defended her “joke” by saying:

I was in Wales w my boyfriend and his family. I was sitting in the car on the way to Christmas at his sister’s and figured I’d sent out a Christmas tweet. Decided to add on a word from our collective vocabulary since, to me, it’s funny, beautiful, and true in that He is all of us.

Wow, Sarah Silverman. Thank you for reminding us that Christ is all of us, male and female. Except if you know anything about Ms. Silverman you’ll know that she’s no friend of Jesus. No, she wasn’t really trying to make a point about Christ in us all. She was playing loosy-goosey with words to provoke people with edgy humor. (If I’m totally wrong, Sarah, I welcome dialogue with you and you can explain how you as a nonbeliever view Christ in us all).

So, provocative humor aside, let’s take the explanation at face-value. Is there any merit in talking about Jesus as gender-fluid?

No, there is not.

The Incarnation is all about God taking on human form. The Gospel According to John says it like this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life^, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….

And the Word became flesh….

It’s the hypostatic union, the combination of the divine and human nature of Jesus, the Christ. But the human nature was a man. It does damage to the identity of Jesus to make attempts to change the Incarnation to fit ridiculous contemporary categories like gender-fluid or gender-neutral.

That’s just crazy.

Yes, the Savior came for all, and the Spirit resides in all. Spiritually we are all on equal footing, for “there is no male nor female” in Christ. That does not eliminate gender distinctions.

It simply means that we ALL have equal access to God’s salvation – being male or female is not a basis for spiritual standing before God.

Is Christ in all and available to all? Yes.

Is Jesus gender-fluid? No.

Ain't Nobody Like This Buddy — Ain’t Nobody Like This Buddy

So there’s a minor kerfuffle going on with Megyn Kelly of Fox News. The other night she was talking about an author who wanted to do away with the idea of a white Santa. Ms. Kelly found the idea to be ludicrous and insisted that there are some people whose ethnicity you cannot touch. Jesus, for example, was a white guy – you can’t change what it is.

Here it is…

Now, here’s the thing. There have been a lot of people making fun of Ms. Kelly. I’ve even cracked a few jokes like:

Of COURSE Jesus was white. Who on earth would want to worship a middle eastern Jew?

Please understand that the previous sentence is a joke – I’m not serious. The simple fact of the matter is that Jesus was a middle eastern Jew. There’s a good chance he looked like a lot of cab drivers in New York.

In the midst of the discussion about Ms. Kelly’s goof there have been some accusations of racism. We need to be careful about the words we use, because I don’t think racism is at play here.

Racism is treating people as inferior because of their race.

What happened on Fox News the other night was not about inferiority. It wasn’t racism. It was racial bias but not racism. And racial bias is normal. It is a normal human trait to imagine stories from our own perspectives. When we read our imaginations usually make the characters look like us. Even when the author is clear about a character’s description we will often overlook that description in our heads.

There were many fans of The Hunger Games who were upset when the character Rue was cast as a little black girl. They failed to recognize the description the author provided and filled in their own gaps from their own perspectives….

The story of Jesus is no different. We don’t have any photos of the man, so we are left to use our imaginations to see him. Left to ourselves, we fill in the blank spots from our own experiences, culture, and background.

Megyn Kelly wasn’t being racist. Ignorant, sure, but not racist (and honestly, it’s hard not to see Jesus as white when the majority of sacred art we’re exposed to is European…).

One of my most prized possessions is a book called “The Life of Jesus” (1978, Buechner and Boltin). I don’t think it’s in print any more, but you can get it used on Amazon.

It’s the story of Jesus combined with sacred art from around the world. Let me show you some famous art of Jesus…

Christ Crowned with Thorns. Wood. Philippines, 20th Century

Virgin and Child. Oil on Canvas. Uruguay, 20th Century.

The Last Supper. Crayon on Paper. U.S.A., Contemporary.

Mother of Divine Grace. Textile. Japan, Contemporary.

The Holy Family. Painting on Silk. Japan, 20th Century.

We all tend to fashion the Bible from our own background. Is it wrong to see Jesus as a white guy? As Japanese? As African? Historically, sure – he was a middle eastern Jew. But the whole point of the Incarnation is that Christ is WITH us. God is not far away and removed – He is one of us. So the God who left heaven to be like me might look like me. What other god ever bothered to become like us?

The mystery and magnificence of YAHWEH is the Incarnation. His name is Emmanuel, which means: God with us.

Ms. Kelly might want to apologize for her cultural bias and ignorance but I don’t fault her for seeing Jesus from her background and heritage. I don’t really expect my blog will ever cross her path, but if you do know her send her the link, okay? 😉

This Christmas season take some time to reflect on the idea that God cares enough for us to become like us. To feel like us. To suffer like us. To die like us.

Yes, even to look like us.

Follow @chrislinzey