A few days ago, Shaun King, a former pastor who is one of the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, wrote on Twitter: “I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down. They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been.”
This comment is, of course, part of a rising animosity that some people have to statues of historical figures who may have been associated with slavery and/or racism. King, however, is not suggesting that Jesus himself was a white supremacist; only that his followers have been like that.
So was Jesus “white”? It depends what we mean by that word. Are Italians “white”? Are Turkish people? Iranians? Jesus was certainly Jewish, but that is not really a racial designation. (In the Old Testament, there was always the provision for people of other nations to become Jewish.)
It is true that Jesus has often been portrayed with white (or pink) skin more often associated with people from northern Europe. A quick glance at the children's Bible story books in our house reveal a mixture: the Big Picture Story Bible (2004) and the Candle Bible (2006) have Jesus with light skin, while the Beginner's Bible (2005) and the Jesus Storybook Bible (2007) render him with light-brown skin, more like Middle Eastern people today.
There are very few physical descriptions of Jesus in the Bible. There are a few in Old Testament Messianic prophecies, but we need to be careful in the way we interpret them.
You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
(Psalm 45:2)
This verse is talking in the first instance about the king of Israel (probably Solomon) and although it is fulfilled in Jesus, this doesn't imply that Jesus was physically handsome.
In fact, the indications are just the opposite:
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
(Isaiah 53:2)
This passage is talking about the Messiah, and although the chapter focuses on his sufferings, this verse seems to suggest that even before his crucifixion, Jesus was not physically attractive.
As we come into the New Testament it is probably significant that the only physical description we have of Jesus is after he is ascended and glorified:
The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
(Revelation 1:14-16)
This is what Jesus looks like now. And of course, no statue, icon, painting, or illustration is able to capture this.
We can make guesses as to what Jesus looked like based on what we know of both Jewish and Graeco-Roman culture of the first century. He probably had quite short hair (see 1 Corinthians 11:14) but it is not even clear that he had a beard – the earliest depictions of Jesus from the Roman catacombs depict him without facial hair.
The fact is, we simply don't know what Jesus looked like. And this is, of course, a good reason to avoid depictions of him. Many Reformed people have viewed such depictions as going against the Second Commandment anyway. Question and Answer #109 of the Westminster Larger Catechism says,
Q. What sins are forbidden in the second commandment?
A. The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever ...
Even if we don't go as far as that, and still allow images of Jesus in our houses, we should keep on reminding ourselves (and our children) that these are not really what Jesus looks like. They are certainly not what Jesus looks like now.