In order to follow Jesus in his mission
today, we often must choose a love that
is based in solidarity. Many well-meaning
Christians minister across a social gap,
but whites can minister to people of
colour without truly seeing them as
equals, and higher-income people can
serve lower-income people while
knowing little about their daily lives.
Jesus’ ethnic identity and social location
require that we must not only minister to
people who are marginalized, we must
stand with them as Jesus stands with
them.
This involves seeing non-European
cultural perspectives and customs as
valid and valuable, listening to people
who are marginalized, and
demonstrating with our words and
actions that both spiritual and social
liberation are central to the gospel.
But first, those who still perceive a
white Christ must ask whether they
can and will worship a dark-skinned
Jesus.